Pune: Leopard Attack in Junnar Kills Toddler, Community Calls for Immediate Action

In a tragic incident early Thursday morning, a leopard mauled a one-and-a-half-year-old girl to death in Shiroli Khurd village, part of the Junnar forest division. This marks the second fatal attack within a month, intensifying local demands for effective wildlife management strategies.

The toddler, whose family recently moved from Ahmednagar district for work, was sleeping in an open field on a farm when the attack occurred. Despite immediate search efforts by her family and subsequent forest department intervention, her body was recovered three hours later with significant injuries.

Officials, including Amit Bhise, Assistant Conservator of Forest, Junnar Forest Division, are stepping up efforts to prevent further tragedies. Enhanced monitoring, including drone surveillance and increased patrolling, is being implemented. Additionally, the forest department is setting up ten trap cameras over a ten-square-kilometer area to track the leopard involved. A critical meeting, guided by the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s protocols, is scheduled for Friday to discuss further action.

The family of the deceased has been promised a ₹25 lakh compensation, part of which will be immediately disbursed, with the remainder secured in fixed deposits for future support. This incident follows another close call last month where a young boy survived a leopard attack under similar circumstances.

The increasing frequency of such attacks has prompted calls from public figures for the state to declare these encounters a calamity and to introduce measures such as a leopard population control program.