BHOPAL: A 65-year-old woman managed to kill a jackal which attacked her at Shivpuri district in Madhya Pradesh on Monday.
The woman, Surajiya Bai Jatav, belonging to Barkhadi village in the Gwalior-Chambal region, has been admitted to Shivpuri district hospital for treatment.
The woman had gone to the field to collect grass for her cattle when she was attacked by the jackal around 5 pm on Monday.
The woman reportedly wrestled with the animal after none came to her rescue following repeated screams. She fought for nearly 30 minutes and eventually strangled the jackal to death with the help of her saree. When the jackal died, she too fell unconscious.
It took several hours for her to regain consciousness.
Her grandson Devendra Jatav said that when they reached the spot they found her lying unconscious with severe bleeding injuries and the jackal lying dead near her. "Immediately, we rushed her to the Shivpuri district hospital," he added.
According to doctors attending to the elderly woman, she has sustained 18 gashes (bite wounds) all over her body. Anti-rabies injections have been administered and she is being monitored by the doctors.
One of the senior doctors overseeing the treatment at the Shivpuri hospital said that with 18 bite wounds, she has been placed under Category-2 of animal bite cases.
“We hope that the wounds will completely heal in the next 7-10 days and with her current situation being stable, she may be discharged from the hospital in 3-5 days,” a doctor said.
Surajiya Bai who has lost husband and elder son due to illnesses in the past, lives with younger son Badri and the family is dependent on four bighas of land.
But Surajiya Bai is not the first one from her family to have battled a jackal. Around six months go, her brother-in-law Latura Jatav, successfully saved his family from an attacking jackal and killed the animal. But he died three months later due to rabies related complications.
Meanwhile, the state forest department has provided an initial assistance of Rs 1000. The department has assured to bear the cost of her treatment.