Alipurduar: On Tuesday evening, in a horrifying man-animal conflict a three-year-old girl was picked up by a leopard while her mother watched helplessly as the wild animal ran into the nearby tea garden and mutilated her into pieces in north Bengal tea gardens.
The heartbreaking incident took place at Madarihat under Alipurudar district while victim Pramila Oraon was playing in the courtyard and her mother was cooking. Suddenly she saw that her daughter was picked up by the wild leopard and it ran into the nearby Garganda tea garden as her child was crying for life. The gardens are managed by the Duncan Group.
An immediate search by the forest department officials with sniffer dog and local residents could not trace the girl and the search operation was stopped due to darkness.
Today, the mutilated body of the three-year-old girl was recovered inside the Gargenda tea garden. This was the fourth human casualty in four weeks time in the area, covered by tea bushes, a safe hideout for the wild animals.
The local residents, who had been demanding for setting up cages to catch the leopard after three humans were killed, staged protest against the forest guards and also vandalised their van.