Leopard attacks five-year-old boy near Valparai

A five-year-old boy suffered injuries after being mauled by a leopard near Valparai on Thursday. The injured has been identified as Deekshith, son of Gurusamy and Nagajothi, who are working in a tea estate at Upper Paralai near Rottikadai.

Forest Department officials said that a leopard attacked the boy when he was playing with his mother on the premises of their estate quarters around 4.15 p.m. The boy, who suffered injuries on his right ear and rear side of the head, was immediately rushed to the Government Hospital, Valparai. Though his condition was stable, the boy was later shifted to a private hospital in Coimbatore for special care, said officials.

Forest Department staff attached to Valparai range of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve patrolled the tea estate around the quarters after the incident. The staff found that thickets had grown around the quarters.

Following the incident, the Department urged estate managements to ensure that bushes around workers’ quarters are cleared at regular intervals. It appealed to parents to keep their children under proper supervision, to prevent them from playing alone outside quarters in the evenings.