A 55-year-old woman Saraswati of ST Colony of Vengampalle village of Thavanampalle mandal, 30 km from here, escaped with minor injuries when a sub-adult leopard attacked her while rearing sheep on Tuesday.
According to information, the woman along with her sheep had gone inside the reserve forest. The leopard injured her on the leg when she tried to stop it from taking away sheep. Some people who saw the attack rushed to the spot, and shifted a shocked Saraswati to District Headquarters Hospital at Chittoor.
Divisional Forest Officer (Chittoor West) Sunil Kumar Reddy said the sub-adult leopard was on the prowl at the forest fringe area close to the village since a week. “We have been watching it moving along the forest road. At present, it is moving alone. We are investigating the factors which led to it being alone and away from its mother. We have observed it showing signs of insecurity being a sub-adult,” he said.
The DFO said the leopard did not enter the human habitations, but was very much moving inside the reserve forest. “Since four days, we have arranged tom-tom in the villages close to the forest beat urging people to refrain from taking cattle and sheep for grazing inside the forest,” he said.
The official said that the villagers had approached the forest staff seeking capture of the animal.
