Three members of a family, including two women, were attacked by a leopard that entered their house in Kalarpalayam in Gudiyatham in Vellore district, during the late hours of Wednesday. All three sustained injuries and have been hospitalised. On Thursday morning, Forest Department officers managed to tranquillise the big cat, trapped inside the house. It was taken to a forest on the Tamil Nadu -Andhra Pradesh border to be released.
According to sources, Prema,40, and her children Manohar, 20, and Mahalakshmi, 14, were sleeping inside the house, in Kalarpalayam, Erthangal village, in Gudiyatham taluk. They had left the main door open for ventilation. It is suspected that around midnight, the leopard entered the house and attacked the family. In panic, the three ran out of the house and closed the main door and the animal was trapped inside.
Police and Forest Department officials were informed about the incident and they rushed to the spot. The injured were taken to the hospital and are undergoing treatment.
A special team from the Forest Department from Hosur later came to the village. “Since the animal was hiding in one of the rooms, the Forest officials tried different methods to make it come to the hall so that they could shoot it with the the tranquilliser. Even a battery-operated toy car was used for this purpose. Finally, they drilled a small hole in the rearof the house and the animal, probably scared of the noise, ran into the hall. It was then tranquillised,” said a police officer.
Forest officials checked its condition and then carried the animal out in a stretcher. “They transferred it into a cage and kept some water for it to drink. The animal was then taken into the forest, near Sarangal on the Tamil Nadu - Andhra Pradesh border, and will be released after checking its health condition once again,” added the officer.
Residents said that this is the first time a wild animal has entered a village in Gudiyatham taluk. “Five years ago, a deer came into the Gudiyatham town. These animals stray into our village from Mordana forest,” said Mahalingam, a resident of Erthangal village.
