Woman killed in suspected leopard attack

The mangled remains of a woman, suspectedly killed by a leopard, was found at the foothills of Soojigallubetta (hill) near Haradanahalli in the Holenarsipura taluk of Hassan district on Thursday.

Police have identified the victim as Chennamma, 45, wife of Rangaiah. The couple have two sons and a daughter.

Chennamma has been reportedly missing from Monday.  Her skeletal remains were found  by police during a search operation in the hill. Interestingly, police said that she had survived an attack by a big cat six months ago.

Divisional Forest Officer Lakshman, who inspected the remains, initially suspected the attack to be the work of hyenas. “However, the presence of pug marks of both hyenas and leopard around the corpse, suggest that a leopard might have made the kill, which was subsequently taken over by hyenas,” he added.

This is said to be the third leopard attack reported in the region. A few months ago, Shivegowda of Haradanahalli, and Panduranga were killed by the animal. Angry residents demanded that a trap be laid to catch the leopard.