Mumbai: In a heart wrenching incident that took place in the forested area of Aarey colony in Goregaon on Monday, a leopard attacked and killed an 18-month-old baby girl who was following her mother into the forest early in the morning.
According to the Aarey police, the incident took place in unit number 15 of Aarey around 6.30 am, when a woman was on her way to a temple 30 feet away from her house, and her child started following her.
A leopard was in the same vicinity and had kept a close watch over the child and the mother as they got closer into the forest. When they were close enough, the leopard attacked the child and injured her severely. The toddler was rushed to a hospital, where she was declared dead by doctors, added the police.
“On the basis of primary information, we have registered an accidental death report (ADR) in the case, further investigation is underway," said an official from the Aarey police.
Subsequently, the forest department initiated a plan to prevent the human-wildlife conflict in the area and a team from Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) has been called in by the forest department for assistance.
According to an official, the authorities have deployed a wildlife ambulance, wildlife distress response teams and senior officials from the Mumbai forest department, volunteers, rescuers, leopard experts and veterinarians at Aarey to be on stand by throughout the day and night for this entire week.
In addition to this, night patrolling will be done along with camera traps to identify and monitor the movements of the leopard in the area, added the official.
Aarey colony is located near Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which is home for various wild animals including leopards. This human-animal conflict has witnessed several attacks by leopards in the past including a four-year-old boy being injured in a leopard attack earlier this month.
In September an elderly woman barely managed to survive an attack by a leopard in Aarey and was later rushed to a hospital for treatment.
Last year, a leopard attacked over 10 people in the area and was finally trapped by the forest department before being released in Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
There have been many such incidents of leopard attacks in the Aarey region and animal activists have advised people in the area to make sure their children are at home by 7pm and in case of heading out in the dark, people should roam in groups using a torch light.
