Chennai, Aug 10 (IANS) A four-year-old girl was killed by a leopard in a private tea estate in Arakadu near Mynalain in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday morning.The victim was identified as K. Sharidha, the daughter of migrant workers from Assam.Forest department officials said that she had ventured inside the forest away from the estate area. She was dragged into the forest by the leopard for a short distance before local people chased it away.The girl was rushed to the Udhagamandalam medical college hospital but she succumbed to her injuries. The Forest department said that they have perambulated the area where the pug marks of the leopard were found.Senior forest officials are monitoring the area to prevent any further human-animal conflict. Officials told mediapersons that the human-leopard conflict was rare and that the big cats generally shy away from humans.Forest official said that the incident was a rarest of rare cases and the girl would have gone too close to the leopard when she ventured out to relieve herself in the morning and this would have led to the attack by the animal.It is to be noted that the human-elephant conflict has been a regular issue facing the Nilgiris area and forest special squads are pressed into service to chase the elephants away from the human habits.
--IANS aal/svn/
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