Mumbai: Another leopard attack in Aarey, search to trap feline behind recent attacks continues

Mumbai: Almost a fortnight after a leopard killed a toddler in the Aarey colony, a man was attacked in the same area on Sunday night. The man has sustained minor injuries.

The forest department had trapped two leopards from the same location after the toddler's death, however, the leopard suspected to be behind the attack is still at large and the trapping and monitoring is still on, said forest officials.

The leopard behind these attacks may not be a man-eater: Officials

On Sunday evening, a man working at a cowshed in Aarey unit 15 (the same location of the toddler attack), was attacked by a leopard but survived with minor injuries, while the leopard escaped. "The victim sustained minor injuries and is in stable condition now, we are looking into the matter," said a forest official. 

"We have set up traps and already caught two leopards, we will continue the monitoring and trapping till we capture the main suspected leopard," added the official.

According to the forest officials, they suspect that the leopard responsible for the toddler attack may not be a man-eater because it is not attacking humans on a regular basis, however, trapping it and sending it to Sanjay Gandhi National park (SGNP) has become the top priority for the forest department at the moment. 

The forest department along with its wildlife volunteers have been monitoring the area for a almost a fortnight. They were successful in trapping two other leopards who were identified and released back as they were not the ones the forest department was looking for. 

This trapping and monitoring began after a one-and-a-half-year-old girl was attacked and killed by a leopard in a forested area in unit number 15 of Aarey Colony on October 24. The child had followed her mother who was on the way to a temple nearby in the morning.