Girl attacked by leopard in Veraval village, serious

22-02-2010
Girl attacked by leopard in Veraval village, serious
Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/Girl-attacked-by-leopard-in-Veraval-village-serious/articleshow/5600788.cms

A leopard attacked a sleeping five-year-old girl, injuring her grievously in Ishwariya village in Veraval in Junagadh. With this incident, the fears of a lurking leopard, which had killed two women in the taluka last month, resurfaced. Locals had breathed a sigh of relief when a leopard was caught from the outskirts of the village on Friday.

Sources at a Veraval private hospital said, Sanjana Maratha, daughter of a farm labourer from Nandurbar in Maharashtra, was sleeping along with her family in the hut when the leopard attacked.

"The animal picked her up by the neck and dragged her away in the middle of the night. The girl's cries awoke the family and neighbours who managed to scare the animal away. It dropped the girl. But, by then she was bleeding profusely," a source said. Doctors attending to Sanjana said on Sunday that her condition remained critical.