Cattle herder survives leopard attack in Medak

A cattle herder in Medak narrowly survived a leopard attack while grazing goats near Karimnagar village. Fellow herders intervened, chasing the animal away. Forest officials plan traps and monitoring to capture it.

Medak: “The leopard would have killed me had the fellow cattle herders not responded in time,” said Patnam Raju (25), who survived a leopard attack in the forest area near Karimnagar village of Chegunta mandal on Thursday afternoon.

Raju was grazing his goats in the forest when the leopard, which had been hiding in a bush, suddenly pounced on one of the animals. “It held the goat by its neck and tried to drag it away from the herd. I tried to defend it by shouting, throwing a stick and stones,” he recalled.

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The leopard dropped the goat and retreated into the bushes, giving Raju a chance to rescue the injured animal. However, as he carried the goat in his lap, the big cat returned and struck him from behind with its paw.

“I yelled for help and my colleagues rushed with sticks and stones, making loud noises. They managed to chase the leopard away into the forest,” Raju said. He was then escorted safely back to the village along with his herd.

The incident, the first leopard attack on humans in Medak district in recent years, triggered panic among farmers and cattle herders. They demanded that the forest department capture the animal and release it deep inside the forest.

Forest officials, who reached Karimnagar village later in the day, said they were preparing to set up camera traps and cages with bait, besides deploying staff to monitor the area and trap the leopard.