Man punches leopard in the eye in Jalpaiguri forest

A 68-year-old man survived a fight with a leopard in a West Bengal tiger reserve after he injured the animal with a rain of blows on its face and forced it to retreat.

The incident took place at Dalsingpara range of Buxa Tiger Reserve in north Bengal when Buddhiman Mangar was returning home with his cow through the forest on Sunday evening.

“We have come to know that the leopard has sustained injury in one of its eyes after a fight with Buddhiman at Dalsingpara range in Buxa. The man was retuning home with his cow when he was attacked by the leopard,” said Ashok Pratap Singh, an official in the reserve.

The reserve lies in Alipurduar sub-division of Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal. It was set up in the early 1980s at the north-eastern corner of West Bengal bordering Bhutan and Assam.

Reports said the man fought a heroic battle for almost half an hour and finally could injure the leopard and force it to retreat. Buddhiman was also wounded. He was first taken to the Dalsingpara tea garden hospital by some villagers and later shifted to Alipurduar sub-divisional hospital Sunday night.

Another villager, Dilbahadur Magar, who was also retuning with his cows through the same forest path, saw Buddhiman, a resident of a village adjacent to Dalsingpara tea estate. Magar took him to hospital with the help of other villagers.