New Delhi (dpa) – A leopard bit and clawed four people after it strayed into a city of north-eastern India, triggering panic for more than two hours before it was trapped, reports said Sunday. The incident took place Saturday when the cat entered a house and started attacking the residents in a busy area of Guwahati, the Kolkata-based Telegraph daily reported. “We were simply shocked and stunned to find the leopard inside the house and soon the cat started attacking,” witness Nipu Das told the IANS news agency. One person lost a chunk of his scalp before the leopard made off to other houses in the neighborhood. Traffic had to be diverted and crowds ran in panic before a wildlife rescue team arrived. Rescuers tranquilized the cat and took it to a zoo for observation. Authorities said the leopard came from the jungle on Guwahati's outskirts. Rampant deforestation around Indian cities is forcing wild animals to come out of their natural habitats and attack people, as the two species compete for living space. Similar incidents have been reported from the northern states of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana in recent months. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/axiB8 Tags: India, Leopard Section: Animals, South Asia
