NELLORE: One Maddipati Sivaiah Naidu (40) of Molakalapudi village was attacked by a leopard around 7 am on Tuesday. Fortunately, he escaped with minor injuries. He was rushed to Gudur area hospital, where he is recovering.
This incident took place at Sydapuram tank at the village. Leopard attacking a man was not heard of in the district till now. According to sources, Sivaiah Naidu, a farmer, was on the way to his sugarcane field to attend to the nature’s call. He cried loudly for help when the leopard suddenly pounced on him. He managed to free himself from the animal and started running from the spot. However, the leopard caught him again. By now, other villagers arrived on the scene and rescued Sivaiah and drove the leopard away.
When contacted by Express, Sivaiah said the leopard was hiding in the bushes when he went to the fields. When it attacked, he tried scare it away with a stick, but the animal had already pined him to the ground, he said. Somehow, he managed to flee from there. “It was all God’s grace,” he said.
A Bamidipati Venkaiah (70) of the village said this this is first time the villagers witnessed such an incident. “It is normal for us to go into the dense forest for collecting fire wood and other purposes. I have never seen a tiger in my life. I think the wild animal has came to Sydapuram tank for drinking water,” he said.
Meanwhile, forest officials who rushed to the village confirmed that a leopard was moving in the surrounding areas and warned villagers not to go into the forest alone as there is the risk of attack. They said the matter would be taken up with their higher officials and the leopard would be caught soon.