Missing 4-Year-Old Girl Found Dead, Reportedly Killed By Leopard

A girl who went missing from her house in Ompora colony was found dead and believed to have been mauled to death by a leopard in Budgam region in the federal Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir. She was last seen playing by the lawn of their home before she disappeared on Thursday. A missing person report was found with the local police thereafter.

According to the police, the girl was taken away by a leopard and then mauled to death. She was found after a rescue and search operation was carried out by them and wildlife officials. When they found her lifeless body, photos show officials carrying out the girl out of a nearby nursery in a forested area.

The girl’s grandfather broke into tears when he saw the body of the girl wrapped in a green shroud on the ground as loved ones paid their last respects.

“She was our princess,” he said. “We repeatedly stressed to the government (about the wild animals). This is a very sorry state. I plead to the authorities that in the future the security of the locals should be ensured.”

People who carried out the search had already found blood stains in the area. The incident took place five kilometers away from the border of Srinagar city, capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

Locals claim that leopards were spotted roaming around the area but wild life officials hardly took steps to address the safety of civilians.

“We have been pleading with the wildlife officials for long to do something about it. This nursery has become so dense now and they need to take steps to ensure such gruesome incidents don’t take place”, Syed Khalid, a resident of the locality, stated.

The girl’s death caused by wild animals is not the first incident in the area. There have been several other incidents that happened before that, reports of being mauled by bears, leopards and a snow leopard.

Just last month, eight people were injured in a leopard attack in the south Kashmir’s Kulgam district. It was later killed by the locals.