Leopard mauls pregnant woman in India

GUWAHATI– A leopard badly mauled two people including a pregnant woman Friday after straying into the largest city in India’s northeast Assam state — the third such attack there in as many weeks.

The leopard caused panic when it wandered into a densely populated residential neighbourhood in Guwahati, where it pounced on a 20-year-old man and a pregnant woman in her second trimester.

The woman’s husband, laborer Abid Ali, told AFP his wife lost a lot of blood and was unconscious.

“The back of her scalp was badly mauled,” he said.

The other victim, Moziz Haq, said he also suffered head injuries.

“It was a thumping, slap-like feeling and I fell on the ground with blood splattered all over me,” Haq told AFP from his hospital bed.

The animal was later tranquilized by forest officials and taken to a city zoo.

It was the third leopard attack in Guwahati this month.

In a gruesome incident captured on camera, three people were injured and one killed by a leopard on January 7. Three people were hurt in another attack last week.

Thousands of people are attacked by wild animals in India each year, with tigers, leopards, elephants and snakes the most dangerous.

Conservationists say an increasing number of wild animals are appearing in towns and cities because of urban and industrial encroachment on their natural habitat.