Pune: A 44-year-old woman was killed by a leopard on Wednesday morning on Kalyan Nagar Road at Pimpri-Pendhar village in Junnar , around 90km from the city. This was the seventh human casualty in a leopard attack in Junnar since April 1 this year — highest in since 2002-2003 when 11 lives were lost in attacks by the big cat. A forest department official said Sujata Dere had stepped out of her house around 6am to defecate in a nearby area when the leopard attacked her from the rear.
The animal dragged her by her neck 20 feet into the adjacent soybean field. On hearing her yelling for help, her husband tried to scare away the leopard. He also hit the leopard in its head with a stick, following which the big cat dropped her and fled.
Dere died of extensive bleeding, police said. Junnar deputy superintendent of police Ravindra Chaudhar coordinated with the Otur and Ale police station officers to tackle the situation in the village. On Monday, a 44-year-old woman was attacked by a leopard while she was sleeping outside a shepherd's tent at Waghdar, barely 10km from Pimpri-Pendhar.
The leopard bit her arm. As she woke up screaming, the leopard fled. The forest department started searching for the leopard in and around Pimpri-Pendhar village with drone cameras.
An order was issued to install 30 cages and 15 camera traps to capture the leopard. "Considering the large number of leopards in areas around the Kukdi and Ghod rivers, installation of adequate lights around each house in t.