Two-year-old survives leopard threat

13-06-2008

Two-year-old survives leopard threat

Times of India By Nayan Dave

She Was Carried away by the wild cat while she was sleeping with her parents outside their house

Rajkot : For a two-year-old, the fragile-framed Lakhi has the fortitude that could be envy of any man. Even after being carried away by a leopard early on Thursday morning, this Koli girl came alive from the jaws of death.

A lurking female leopard carried away Lakhi, daughter of Bhima Koli when she was sleeping by her parent's side outside their house in Navagam village.

However, Lakhi was saved by her parents and villagers who chased the big cat. That is undeniably a rebirth for her, who has shown tremendous courage to endure the pain and trauma. Lakhi has suffered serious injuries and is currently under medical surveillance at Junagadh Civil hospital.

People of Navagam have been living under constant fear since the last two months after a family of leopard made its habitat near the farm of one of the residents, Hemantsinh jadeja.

"The forest department had laid traps to catch the leopards sometime ago. But, they couldn't catch the big cats. They have been regularly attacking domestic animals of the village. However, it was for the first time on Thursday that a human being was attacked by leopard," said Gogan Koli, a villager. AR Vaghasia, RFO, Veraval, said that the forest department has been successful in catching the female leopard after its attack on Lakhi.