Leopard mauls seven-year-old boy at Valparai in Coimbatore district
The Hindu
Seven-yr-old boy attacked by leopard in Valparai, ATR; suffered injuries on scalp & right hand. Estate management & Forest Dept alerted; boy taken to Govt. Hospital. Forest Dept had earlier warned workers to not venture out in early hrs & night. Two migrant workers injured in leopard attack in April.
A seven-year-old boy, son of a migrant worker, suffered injuries in a leopard attack at Valparai within the limits of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) on Monday.
The injured was identified as Bardeep, son of Sanjay who works in a tea estate at Sirukundra, lower division, at Valparai.
According to the Forest Department, Bardeep was mauled by a leopard when he was playing outside the workers’ quarters around 7.30 p.m. on Monday.
A leopard that emerged from the tea bushes attacked the boy and tried to pull him towards the bushes. The boy cried out for help and other workers came to his rescue. The big cat left the boy and retracted into the bushes.
A portion of the scalp at the back of the boy’s head came off in the attack of the carnivore. He also suffered a cut on his right hand.
The workers immediately alerted the estate management and the Forest Department. The boy was rushed to the Government Hospital in Valparai.
G. Venkatesh, Forest Range Officer, Valparai, said doctors examined the boy whose condition was stable.
While residents are worried over deaths due to diarrhoea in Vijayawada, officials still grapple to find the root cause. Contaminated drinking water supplied by VMC officials is the reason, insist people in the affected areas, but officials insist that efforts are on to identify the disease and that those with symptoms other than diarrhoea too are visiting the health camps.