5-year-old baby dies in leopard attack in Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka

A family, who traveled 350 kilometers from Kammatgiri in Hungund taluk of Bagalkot district of Karnataka to find work, was left devastated due to the tragedy that took place in Tarikere taluk of Chikkamagaluru district on November 20.

Five-year-old Sanvi was playing in front of a shed at an arecan nut farm in Mudre village around 6 pm when a leopard attacked her and took her away. Her father, Basavaraj, who witnessed the sad moment, tried to chase the animal and save his daughter but failed. The animal disappeared, leaving the parents in pain and helpless.

Later, Sanvi’s body was found about a kilometer away from the shack. Biruru police and Tarikere Range officials in the forest also joined the search for the baby.

Basavaraj and his wife Renuka had come to Mundre village to look after an arecanut farm owned by Ramachandrappa, a resident of Bengaluru. The owner had allocated a shack to the family where they could stay. The farm is located near Navilugudda, where leopard movements have been reported by locals. Their hut has neither a compound wall nor a fence, leaving it vulnerable to wild animals.

Tarikere MLA GH Srinivas and senior officials of the Forest Department met the family. They expressed their condolences and handed over a check of ₹ 20 lakh. They later made arrangements to transport the body to their hometown in Bagalkot for final rites after post-mortem.

BM Ravindra Kumar, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Bhadravathi division, said: Hindu He said that based on the boxer’s tracks, they started a scanning operation to trace the animal. Additionally, cages were placed in the area to capture the animal. “This is the first incident of a leopard killing a human. We are taking precautions to catch the animal,” the officer said.