Lucknow: A 10-year-old boy was killed by a leopard in UP’s Balrampur district on Tuesday night.
Sameer Ansari was attacked by the leopard when he had gone to graze goats in a forest area near Dharampur village under Haraiya police station, police said.
“Hearing the boy’s shrieks, many villagers rushed to the spot with sticks and began making a noise to scare away the big cat. However, by the time the villagers could reach the spot, the leopard had already severed the head of the boy. Later the family members arrived and took him to hospital,” said station head officer (SHO), Hariya, Govind Kumar.
Meanwhile, the forest department has deployed teams to catch the big cat.
The fear-gripped villagers and a team of police and forest officials are patrolling the area after the incident.
DFO Balrampur, Semmaran, said that they will take assistance from infra red drones to catch the leopard.
Recently, two leopards were trapped using IR drones in Bahraich.
Victim’s father Shafiq Ansari was in Mumbai, while the mother of victim Rukhwana said that her son Sameer was away from home from Tuesday noon.
Forest Range Officer KP Singh said that villagers have been advised to remain alert to protect themselves from leopards.
DFO Semmaran said that the forest department is also taking other measures to protect the villagers from leopard attacks, including increasing patrols in affected areas, installing camera traps to monitor leopard activity, educating villagers about leopard behaviour and how to avoid encounters.
