A seven-year-old girl was rescued by her father from a leopard at Chikkabellavi in the taluk on Tuesday night.
The big cat tried to attack the girl who was playing in front of the house. Rakesh, her alert father, pulled her aside and scared the animal away, but not before it scratched the girl on the leg.
Rakesh was standing inside the compound of the house while his two children were playing. The leopard jumped over the compound wall and attacked his daughter Lekhana. He took a stick lying nearby and scared the big cat away, after pulling Lekhana aside.
Following the incident, residents of Chikkabellavi and surrounding villages tried to besiege the Chikkabellavi police station and held a protest, demanding the forest department take measures to capture the leopard. They said the department was not taking action, despite frequent leopard sightings in the villages.
“Neither the deputy conservator of forests nor the district incharge minister is coming to our rescue,” they said. The police convinced the people to drop the protest and sent them away.
(Published 08 November 2023, 23:35 IST)