Lucknow:

An uninvited guest caused huge panic at a wedding in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow on Wednesday night. A leopard gate-crashed the wedding of Akshay Srivastava and Jyoti Kumari, forcing guests to run for their lives. The incident took place at the city’s MM Lawn late last night, at 11 pm.

A wedding filled with love, joy and music suddenly transformed into a nightmare as the leopard trotted into the lit-up lawn. Within seconds, there were screams as guests ran out to the road. One guest jumped off the first floor of the venue and suffered injuries.

The bride and groom ran off and locked themselves in a car, an eyewitness said, as reported by news agency PTI.

Forest department officials and the police showed up after an SOS and then began a nearly five-hour-long search.

The leopard was finally found on the first floor, hiding in one of the rooms. As forest department official Muqaddar Ali approached the animal, it leapt and attacked him with its paw. The visuals show the forest officer’s left hand covered in blood.

The operation went on till the leopard was caught around 3:30 in the morning.

Two camerapersons also suffered injuries after they were knocked down in the mad scramble to escape the wedding venue, reports say.

After the unexpected overnight pause, the wedding rituals resumed the next morning.

Jaipur:

A leopard entered the garden of a house and viciously attacked a pet dog in Rajasthan’s Mount Abu on Friday.

CCTV footage shows a black dog, which appears to be a Labrador Retriever, walking into the garden of the house in Sunrise Valley when the leopard jumps across the boundary wall of the premises and pounces on it.

The leopard can be seen biting the dog’s neck and holding on as the latter struggles to free itself. The leopard lets go of the dog and escapes when a woman – on hearing the canine howling – starts screaming and opens the house’s door and walks out. The dog then goes back inside the house along with the woman.

Sources said the woman, who was later identified as Mala Kumari, is the owner of the house, which is used as a paying guest accommodation.

Bijnor:

Three forest department officials were injured after they were attacked by a leopard while they were putting the trapped big cat in a cage in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district, officials said on Saturday.

The incident took place in a forest near Dharmanagri when the officials managed to trap the leopard.

A video shows three forest department officials carrying the leopard to a cage kept in a truck. It appears that the officials subdued the leopard with sticks and they appeared to tie its limbs.

While two officials can be seen holding the leopard’s paws, another, wearing a helmet, can be seen holding the big cat near its head.

As they approached the cage, the officials put the big cat down.

However, to their shock, the leopard woke up, roared, and attacked the group of forest department workers.

Soon after, the officials managed to trap the leopard again and put it into the cage.

Three workers have been injured in the incident and are being treated, officials said.

(With inputs from Zubair Khan)

Shahdol:

Three people were injured after a leopard attacked them in the South Forest Division Range in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol area on Sunday. The incident took place when a group of people were picnicking near the Son River in the Khitauli beat of Shahdol range.

The victims, attacked by the leopard, have been taken to a hospital, officials said.

A 30-second video clip, which was shot by one of the victims, is going viral on social media. It shows the leopard pouncing on the picnickers – who initially instigated the big cat.

The video starts with the group of people calling the leopard – who was lurking in the bushes – saying “aaja aaja” (come come) and taking a video. However, their fun and games quickly turned into horror after the leopard came running and pounced on them.

The big cat attacked two people and then dragged another person to the ground, trying to rip into him. The group of picnickers started screaming and can be heard yelling “bhaag” (run) in the video. Within seconds, the leopard ran away before the video cut off. 

According to sub-divisional forest officer, Shahdol, Badshah Rawat, another incident of a tiger attack had taken place in the area a few days back, following which they had advised people to not venture into the forests. 

“Advisory has been issued. We have asked officials to alert villagers and other people not to go into the forests. A control room has also been set up to help people in such incidents,” he said.

New Delhi:

Villagers in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri clashed with the police today after a leopard allegedly killed a 6-year-old boy, the second such incident this week.

The incident took place in the Shardanagar forest range of the South Kheri forest division when the victim had gone to a farm with his father.

A leopard, which was hiding in a sugarcane field, came out and dragged him to the tree and killed him.

The villagers arrived at the spot after his father shouted for help, but the animal had already killed the boy and fled.

Earlier this week, a 50-year-old farmer was mauled to death by a leopard in Bhadaiya village under the Mohammadi range of the South Kheri forest division.

In September, a tiger attacked and killed a man from neighbouring Muda Assi village.

Angry over the latest incident, the villagers clashed with police and threw stones at their vehicles. They alleged that these incidents were happening due to the negligence of the forest department.

Wolf Attack In Uttar Pradesh

Some 130 kilometres from Lakhimpur Kheri, a pack of six wolves had terrorised a village in the Bahraich district.

The last one of the pack, that have killed eight people and injured more than 20 others since mid-July in Bahraich’s Mahsi, was killed by the locals on Saturday.

A campaign, ‘Operation Bhediya’, was launched by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government to capture them.

Five other wolves were earlier rescued in the district.

Lakhimpur Kheri, UP:

A 50-year-old farmer was mauled to death by a leopard in Bhadaiya village under Mohammadi range of South Kheri forest division here, officials said.

Prabhu Dayal, a resident of Shahpur Raja village, was attacked by the leopard in a sugarcane field which in close proximity of Bela Pahara reserved forests and movement of wild animals had been reported in the area, said Sanjay Biswal, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), South Kheri forest division.

The villagers had earlier suspected that a tiger attacked the farmer but the pugmarks confirmed that it was a leopard attack, he said.

Forest teams have been deployed in the area and the villagers have also been cautioned to work in groups and avoid visiting areas where wild animal sightings have been reported, Biswal said.

This is the third human casualty in Mohammadi range since August 27 when a tiger had killed a farmer, Ambarish Kumar.

On September 11, the same tiger attacked and killed Jakir of neighbouring Muda Assi village, officials said.

The spot of Tuesday’s attack near Bhadaiya village is about 20 to 25 km away from Imaliya and Muda Assi villages.

DFO Biswal said after the two human casualties in Imaliya and Muda Assi villages, forest teams had been deployed, which were combing the area to locate the tiger.

He added tranquillising experts were also in the field to capture the tiger.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bahraich:

A 14-year-old boy died in a leopard attack in Somaigaurhi village of Katarniaghat Wildlife Division of the district, officials said on Saturday.

The boy Arvind Kumar was attacked by the leopard around 7 pm on Friday when he went with his family to guard the maize field, said Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Katarniaghat Wildlife Division B Shivshankar.

The leopard left the teen and went towards the forest when the family members and villagers present nearby surrounded the leopard, he added.

The boy was rushed to a nearby government hospital, where he was declared dead.

The DFO said the post-mortem examination is underway and financial assistance will be provided to the family after legal formalities are completed.

Since April, there has been three deaths, including two children, related to human-wildlife conflict in Katarniaghat, said Shivshankar.

After the death of the two children in Dharmapur forest, three leopards have been rescued by setting up cages, he added.

The DFO said the department is very sensitive about the incident of Friday evening.

“We have made preparations to catch the leopard that attacked by setting up three cages around the village with the area being monitored 24 hours a day in three shifts of 8 hours each,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)