Pune: Four-Year-Old Girl Killed in Leopard Attack in Shirur Taluka
Shrirur, 26th December 2024: A four-year-old girl tragically lost her life in a leopard attack on Tuesday evening in Pimpalsuti village, located in Shirur taluka along the highway to Ahilyanagar. This marks the third human fatality in leopard attacks in the region in the past two months.
The victim, Raksha Vijay Nikam, was playing in the courtyard of her family’s home when the leopard struck around 7 pm. The predator dragged her nearly 500 meters into a nearby sugarcane field. Hearing their daughter’s screams, Raksha’s parents rushed to her aid but were unable to reach her in time. Her lifeless and mutilated body was discovered two hours later by local residents and forest officials.
“We are deploying traps and cameras to capture the leopard. Our immediate focus is to follow the standard operating procedures to secure the area,” said Smita Rajhans, Assistant Conservator of Forests.
Since April this year, Pune district has witnessed a troubling increase in leopard attacks, with 10 confirmed deaths and one suspected fatality, marking the highest number of such incidents since 2002-03, when 11 deaths were recorded in the Junnar forest division.
“It’s deeply unfortunate that leopard attacks continue to happen, and yet the government has not made significant progress on the leopard sterilization project,” said Shirur MP Amol Kolhe, expressing his concern over the ongoing issue.
Adding to the severity of the attack in Pimpalsuti, Amol Satpute, Deputy Conservator of Forests for the Junnar division, pointed out, “The area was plunged into darkness at the time of the attack due to a power outage, which likely exacerbated the situation.”
In response to the increasing leopard attacks, State Chief Wildlife Warden Vivek Khandekar assured, “We are planning to implement artificial intelligence (AI) and animal intrusion detection systems on a larger scale to prevent such incidents in the future.”
