EiSamay reporter covers leopard attack, is attacked by the leopard herself

IEN, KOLKATA: In a hair-raising incident, an EiSamay reporter who travelled to Falakata in Alipurdar district to cover a leopard attack on Sunday, ended up being attacked by the animal herself.

The reporter, Jaya Chakraborty, survived the attack, and her situation is under control. She's set to begin receiving anti-rabies injections from today, doctors said. The leopard, which had earlier attacked a farmer couple in Falakata's Holong 3 village, has been captured.

Chakraborty, who watched as villagers and forest officials tried to capture the leopard, said she was so scared during her unexpected encounter with the animal that she felt she would die. The feline was "trying to eat her left hand," she explained.

It was a civic volunteer who was present at the scene who'd struck the leopard's head with a stick, causing it to let her go and flee, Chakraborty added.

Chakraborty was actually standing at a safe distance from the animal when it attacked unexpectedly. The leopard, which had already injured four villagers and four forest department officers, had been tranquilized after it entered a bamboo field - so everyone thought it was sleeping.

But the feline charged out of the field and attacked a colleague of Chakraborty's - Sudhir Barman. Fortunately, Barman - who lost consciousness during the attack but escaped with eight stiches on his back and neck - was also saved by the intervention of a civic volunteer who beat it with a stick.

The leopard also mauled a SBB jawan, injuring him severely. It was then that it jumped on Charkraborty, causing her to fall even as she tried to run, and tumble into the bamboo field with the cat.

Poor leopard didn''t know that she was only a reporter and should not be harmed!

Venkatesh Ramasubramaniam

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When the feline was finally captured, it had taken the forest department and villagers five long hours to do so. It has been taken to Jaldapara forest after treatment.