Representative image showing a leopard
Credit: DH File Photo
Gir Somnath: A 76-year-old woman was mauled to death by a leopard in Gir Somnath district of Gujarat, a forest official said on Wednesday.
Diwaliben Jogia (76) was attacked by the animal when she was sleeping in the open front part of her house at Fareda village on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, he said.
The village falls in the Babaria forest range.
"The leopard fled after leaving her with serious injuries in the head and neck. She was rushed to a government hospital where doctors declared her dead," the official said.
Forest department officials are setting cage-traps in the area to nab the animal, he added.
The incident came two days after a seven-year-old girl was mauled to death by a leopard in neighbouring Amreli district when she was working with her parents in a cotton field.
The nearby Gir national park is home to a large population of Asiatic lions.
Increasing human-animal conflict in the region has become a cause for concern, with local leaders calling for proactive measures such as shifting of leopards roaming near human habitats to interior forest areas.