SILIGURI, India, July 20 (UPI) -- A leopard that wandered into a village in India injured five villagers, three police officers and several forest guards before it was captured.
The animal died Tuesday evening at a veterinary hospital, The Hindu reported. Kanchan Banerjee, a forest ranger at the Sukna Forest Reserve in West Bengal, said police officers used nightsticks and knives to get colleagues out of the leopard's clutches before it was successfully tranquilized.
The leopard was first spotted Tuesday morning in the village of Salugara near Siliguri in the Darjeeling district, Banerjee said. It attacked when villagers startled it and then fled into an empty house.
The Forest Department was notified. When police arrived, a forest guard suffered critical injuries trying to tranquilize the leopard, and it took off again.
About 5:30 p.m., the leopard turned up again, hiding in bushes. It jumped guards who approached it in a vehicle and also attacked police officers.
Banerjee said a necropsy would be performed to determine the cause of death.
