Leopard mauls 13 people on Indian oil compound
AP
A leopard has been shot dead after injuring a 13 people during a day's rampage in an oil company compound near an Indian village.
Photos capture the moment the fully grown male leopard attacked a security guard after he tried to rescue his colleague following the animal's entrance into the Oil India Ltd campus at Duliajan in the Dibrugarh district.
Several members of staff were attacked before forest guards arrived at the scene and shot the animal with a tranquilliser gun.
Unfortunately, the drug didn't appear to take effect, and the leopard had to be shot dead.
AP
According to the Daily Mail, P Shiv Kumar, forest officer of Digboi forest division, said: "We were informed about a leopard straying into a bungalow of an Oil executive on Sunday morning.
"I accompanied a team of veterinary doctors from the Centre for Rehabilitation and Conservation of the Wildlife Trust of India to the spot.
"By the time we got there, the leopard had attacked five people. We tried to tranquillise the leopard, but it got agitated - which is normal before sedatives take effect - and pounced on the large crowd gathered at the spot.
"The security personnel were left with no option but to shoot it."
AP
The news follows a number of reported leopard attacks in India, where, forest officials say, humans are encroaching onto leopard habitats, leaving it harder for them to find food, and people more vulnerable to attacks.
Back in January 2012, one person was killed and another partially scalped by a frightened leopard that wandered into a residential area in India.
It is thought the animal entered the city of Guwahati from the nearby Garbhanga Forest looking for food.
And, in the same month and the same area, a pregnant woman was left with deep wounds to her scalp and arms after a leopard attacked her.
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