In the Indian state of Maharashtra, a man-eating leopard killed 12 people in 35 days, reports India Today.
Judging by the tracks, all the attacks were carried out by the same beast. For the whole month, he methodically killed people every three days. Residents of the surrounding villages live in fear and try not to leave their homes.
To capture the predator, the state’s forestry department conducted one of the largest operations in its history. 80 people with four bloodhounds were thrown in search of the leopard, 18 traps and 35 CCTV cameras were set in the forest. The beast escaped and the killings continued.
When it was not possible to catch the beast, he was ordered to be killed. On December 11, the Maharashtra Forestry Department brought in sniper Harshwardhan Tavare from Pune State to look for the predator along with professional shooter Dhavalsinh Mohite-Patil from Solapur. They tracked him down and opened fire, but the leopard managed to escape.
In 2019 it was reported that a man-eating leopard stole from family of a four-month-old baby and tore him to pieces. The murdered baby slept in the open air near a family of shepherds. The predator crept up to them and took his prey. The mutilated body of a child was found near a stream 1.5 kilometers from the place where the abduction took place.