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Now boy, 4, dies in leopard attack in Ahilyanagar
Soon after, the child’s family members and local residents gathered at the spot, protesting and blaming the forest department for failure to curb the frequent movement of leopards in the area
A four-year-old boy was killed in a leopard attack in Ahilyanagar district on Saturday evening, triggering anger and fear among the villagers. The incident took place at around 6.30 pm in Javale Kadlag village of Sangamner taluka. The victim, Siddhesh Kadlag, was standing near the entrance of his house when a leopard attacked him. The child was mauled to death before help could arrive, leaving the village in a state of shock.
Soon after, the child’s family members and local residents gathered at the spot, protesting and blaming the forest department for failure to curb the frequent movement of leopards in the area. The villagers initially refused to accept the body, demanding immediate action against the leopard, leading to a tense situation in the village.
Forest department officials and police personnel rushed to the village and launched a search operation to track the leopard. Dharmveer Salvithhal, deputy conservator of forests, Ahilyanagar forest department, said, “We received an order to capture or eliminate the leopard involved in the fatal attack. The search operation was launched and at around 2.30 pm on Sunday, the leopard was captured by the team. The big cat is currently caged in a nursery in Sugaon village located near the site of the mishap. We will try to shift the leopard either to Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre (MLRC), Junnar or Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai, depending on availability.”
Salvithhal said that nine people have lost their lives in leopard attacks in the current financial year whereas 35 leopards have been captured from non-forest areas in Ahilyanagar with most of them caged in nurseries and other facilities.
In light of rising instances of human-leopard conflict, local politician Satyajit Tambe has called a mass protest on December 15.
In view of rising instances of human-leopard conflict in Pune, district collector Jitendra Dudi has called a review meeting on Saturday, December 13.
Dudi said that as part of intensified efforts, the forest department has captured 68 leopards in a short span of time. This has largely been made possible owing to ₹13 crore sanctioned by the district administration for various mitigation measures. The Junnar forest division includes the forest ranges of Junnar, Otur, Shirur, Ghodegaon, Manchar, Rajgurunagar and Chakan. In 2025–26, leopard attacks claimed the lives of five people with ₹65 lakh paid as compensation whereas five people were injured and paid ₹2.18 lakh in compensation. There were 1,657 livestock deaths resulting in compensation of ₹1.61 crore whereas crops over 17.07 hectares were damaged leading to a compensation of ₹9.79 lakh. In total, a compensation amounting to ₹2.38 crore was disbursed, Dudi said.
Apart from managing the leopard-human conflict, the forest department is also focusing on leopard conservation and management. Between 2020–21 and 2025–26, 185 leopard cubs were reunited with their mothers. Measures including regular patrolling by forest staff, public awareness campaigns, and formation of rapid response teams with local participation have been taken. Dudi said that there are many other proposals underway for leopard sterilisation, daytime power supply for agricultural pumps, expansion of the MLRC etc.
