An 82-year-old woman was killed in a leopard attack in the early hours of Friday in Inamgaon village, located in the Shirur Forest Range of Pune district of Maharashtra, a forest official said.
According to the official, Lakshmibai Baban Bhoite was asleep on the front porch of her house at Kaul Vasti on Nalge Mala Road around 4.30 am when the wild cat attacked her, PTI reported.
“The leopard initially targeted a dog. When the dog escaped, the big cat turned its attention to the elderly woman. It dragged Bhoite across the tar road behind her house. It pulled her nearly 700 feet into a nearby sugarcane field, where her body was later found,” the official said.
“The incident was reported to the Shirur Forest Officer in Pune at around 6.45 am by local residents. A team then rushed to the spot. The woman’s body has been sent to the Rural Hospital at Nhavare for post-mortem,” he added.
In a first, rare white leopard cub spotted in Maharashtra`s Ratnagiri forest
In what is believed to be a first for the state, forest officials in Maharashtra have discovered a rare white Indian leopard cub in Ratnagiri district, the officials said on Thursday.
Confirming the rare sighting in state, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Girija Desai from the Ratnagiri forest department, said, “We have come across a white newborn cub of an Indian leopard in Ratnagiri district. We also found the cub`s mother and an another cub nearby.”
She added, “We have also located the mother with an another cub at the spot. We are using camera traps and keeping a close tab on the mother and cubs. As the cub is extremely small it is difficult to say if it is leucistic or albinistic. However this is the first such record from Maharashtra where a white colour leopard cub has been spotted.”
Leucistic or lucism happens due to genetic mutation that leads to abnormally pale or light coloration. If compared with albinistic or albinism in leopards, the body coat with visible rosette patterns will be replaced with very pale or white fur due to the condition.
(With PTI inputs)
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