Junnar, known as a hotspot of leopard-human conflicts in the district, has yet again witnessed a fatal leopard attack, this time leading to the death of a four-year-old boy in Shirur tehsil of Pune district.

This marks the eighth human death due to a leopard attack in Pune district since March this year. In this particularly gruesome incident, the boy’s head was severed from his body.

The attack took place on Friday at 7 pm in Tembhekar Vasti, near Mandavgan Farata village.

According to the Junnar Forest Department, Shivtej had traveled to the village with his parents from Pune to celebrate Diwali. On the evening of the attack, he was playing in front of their house, close to a sugar cane field. At that moment, a leopard, which had been hiding in the field, appeared and attacked the young man, mistaking him for prey.

Shivtej’s grandfather Pandurang Tembhekar witnessed the attack and immediately shouted for help as he tried to confront the leopard. Despite his best efforts, the leopard dragged Shivtej about 400 meters into the field. Hearing the cries, family members and neighbors rushed to the spot. The police and forest officials were quickly alerted and the authorities promptly responded to the incident.

Timeline of human-leopard conflicts in Junnar:

April: An 18-month-old girl, Sanskruti Kulekar, was killed by a leopard in Shiroli Khurd village.

May: An 8-year-old boy, Rudra Fatale, was fatally attacked by a leopard while visiting relatives in Kolwadi, Junnar.

May: A 60-year-old woman, Nanubai Sitaram Kadale, was killed while working on her bajra farm in Pimpri Pendhar.

June: An 11-year-old boy, Yash Suresh Gaikwad, was killed by a leopard in Dahiwadi village, Shirur taluka.

August: A 55-year-old woman was killed in a leopard attack in Shirur taluka.

September: A 9-year-old boy was killed in Tejewadi village of Junnar.

October: A 40-year-old woman, Sujata Dere, was killed by a leopard in a soybean field near her home in Mauje Pimpri Pendhar.

November: A 4-year-old boy was killed by a leopard in Tembhekar Vasti in Junnar.