50-year-old Woman Saves Her Niece from Leopard Attack in Uttarakhand Village

A 50-year-old woman from Uttarakhand's Pauri Garhwal rescued her 15-year-old niece from a leopard that attacked her on Friday. Pitaambari Devi, a resident of Manda Khal village, said the locals often use the nearby forest area as a path for working and taking livestock.

“Around noon, my niece and I were on our way home when I heard some strange noise. When I turned back, I was stunned to see a leopard had caught the girl from her neck and was trying to drag her to the forest,” she told News18.

As per Pitaambari, everything happened too fast. “I didn't know how to overpower a leopard but realised I was holding a stick in my hand. I shouted and ran towards leopard," she said.

“The big cat was not bothered by my screams, but after I struck its head repeatedly with a stick, the leopard left the girl and ran towards the woods,” she added.

The girl who suffered from puncture wounds to her neck was admitted at Srinagar Medical colleges where she is recovering. Meanwhile, forest official Anil Bhatt said a cage has been put up to capture the big cat.

The state has witnessed a rise in incidents of man-animal conflicts over the last few years. Most recently a couple of districts in the hill state have reported frequent attacks. On Saturday night, a 45-year-old woman was killed by a leopard in Nainital district’s Okhalkanda area. In the same vicinity, a total of three females, including two teenagers, have been killed in the last two weeks.

Similarly in Pithoragarh district, leopard attacks in villages have led to three deaths. The administration had earlier declared one leopard as a man-eater. After getting orders from the forest department, a team of hunters gunned down the leopard. However, it was unconfirmed whether the leopard whether the man-eater leopard was adequately identified.