UDHAGAMANDALAM: A 25-year-old IT professional was injured after being attacked by a leopard while trying to save his pet dog from the wild animal at Kotagiri in the Nilgiris district on Tuesday night.
The injured man, identified as Bahadur, works with an IT firm in Bengaluru. He is the elder son of Janak, a native of Nepal who has been employed as a night watchman at a private school in Kotagiri for over 15 years. The family resides on the school campus.
Bahadur had been visiting his parents after opting for work-from-home for a few days. On Tuesday night, poor mobile network connectivity inside the house prompted him to step outside with his pet dog to attend an online office meeting.
At around 11.15 pm, as he was returning home, a leopard attempted to attack the dog. Bahadur raised an alarm and threw stones at the animal, allowing the dog to escape. The leopard then turned on him, injuring his face and hands before fleeing the area.
Locals rushed Bahadur to the Kotagiri Government Hospital, from where he was later shifted to the Nilgiris Government Medical College Hospital for further treatment.
District Forest Officer Gowtham said Bahadur’s condition was stable. He reiterated that residents had been repeatedly advised to avoid venturing out at night due to frequent leopard movement in the area. “Monitoring has been intensified following the incident,” he said.
