Chandrapur: In yet another incident of man-animal conflict, a woman from Dorli (Chichgaon) village was killed in leopard attack in North Bramhapuri forest range during early hours of Thursday.
Forest department officials claimed the victim Tarabai Kharkate (60), who lived on the fringe of the forest, had gone to dump daily garbage into the jungle early morning. She was attacked by a lurking leopard and was killed on the spot. The beast dragged her body a few meters into the shrubs and devoured nearly 25% of body parts, including the head.
As Kharkate lived alone, her disappearance was not immediately noticed. However, when Kharkate’s brothers did not found her at home, they searched around and found mutilated body in compartment no. 1012 under Chichgaon beat in the afternoon.
There was brief tension in the village as this was second incident of leopard attack in the area. Earlier, a 10-year-old boy was killed while he was on morning walk along with his friends last month.
Forest officials defused the tension by assuring safety to the villagers and increasing patrolling and vigilance in the area.
RFO Poonam Bramhane confirmed the death in leopard attack and claimed that forest officials have noticed pugmarks of the animal near the body. She claimed there is known presence of leopard in the area and it has also been caught in camera trap photos on early occasion. Bramhane said more camera traps are being installed in the area and people have been warned to remain alert.
Foresters have given ex gratia aid of Rs20,000 to the kin of the victim woman and handed over the body after post mortem.
This is 29th human kill in predator attacks in Chandrapur district this year. It includes 23 killed in tiger attacks, five killed by leopard and one was killed in bear attack.