Sanga Leopard Story - By Dr Welch

The Sanga Leopard

Last Spring I treated an eight yr. boy who was literally pulled from the jaws of a leopard by his 13 yr. sister less than 100 ft from the front door of his house. With several bad bites on the neck and one on the left arm he was brought to SMH where he was treated and recovered without complications. At that time the family was very busy and we were not able to get the whole story first hand, especially from the sister who was the real heroine of the event. Quite recently hospital personnel were able to find the family and bring them to the hospital so the whole story could be told. It happened in March of 2009 and with our administrative staff translating this is what we were able to piece together.

Kumar Lama and his sister, Sajana, were playing just outside the house trying to knock down the bats that came at that hour with long poles as the light was fading in the evening. Kumar ran a little further from the house, probably not more than 30 ft., just behind the woodpile, right where the leopard was waiting. A moment of silence, then suddenly his sister heard a desperate cry, and only once. Immediately she ran for her little brother who by that time had already been dragged down three levels of terrace (all farming is done on terraces in the mountains of Nepal). But in seconds she reached her brother and mindless of the large animal gripping the boy by the neck she grabbed his feet and continued screaming leopard, leopard! Unfortunately father was away in another village but mother and neighbors came running. No doubt her heels were dug in but she was no match for a full grown leopard and she was being dragged with her brother further down the mountain. How long the tug of war continued Sajana cannot remember, probably less than a couple of minutes and with the all the noise the leopard relented and disappeared into the night.

Now the bleeding boy was gathered up and with the help of neighbors carried up and down the hills at least 45 minutes to reach the main road. From there is was only a fifteen or twenty minutes to the hospital. In the ER it was quickly established that in spite of the ordeal, vital signs were stable and preparations were made to examine his four neck and one forearm wounds in more detail in the operating room under general anesthesia. In the operating room it was determined the leopard bites, deep as they were, had somehow missed all critical structures and after cleansing they were closed.

Recovery was uneventful, but as more questions were asked the seriousness of this single attack was magnified several fold. At least three other children, ages 8-11 have been attacked and killed over the last two or three years, all in this same vicinity, the last one was just last week. Going back a few more years there was also an unprovoked attack of a 28 yr. male.

The obvious question is what to do. Common folk are not allowed to carry weapons, Leopards are extremely crafty and are believed to detect poisoned meat immediately, and there is no public resource to call upon to track and trap or kill the leopard. Amongst Hindu peoples there is a definite reluctance to kill any animal unless required by a religious rite, but clearly this animal has overstepped his privileges. Appeals to the regional government have resulted in permission to kill the animal but no help in doing so. When absolutely required, soldiers or policemen are usually called on to kill an animal but they are not skilled in tracking and trapping. Attempts to lure the animal into a trap have proved futile. The village leadership has requested the forest service recompense any family hereafter that loses a child to the leopard with 150,000.00 rupees (about 2000. USD).

One of the interesting features of this problem has been the attitude expressed by various Nepali persons, some from the Sanga area and another from further away. I was seeing a child in the ER for unrelated minor trauma whose family happened to be from the town of Sanga. I asked the father several questions about the leopard problem and it seemed he was really not all that concerned. He personally doubted anyone had ever gotten permission to kill the leopard. He insisted if permission were granted the police would be used to conduct a hunt and with 30 or 40 persons they would go into the area, find the leopard and kill it. A personal acquaintance of ours living in the hills surrounding Banepa insisted the problem was with the people of Sanga. He said they didn't respect the environment and unnecessarily antagonize the wildlife, comparing the leopard to a dog which bites only if you irritate him. He felt the leopard could easily be poisoned if it had clearly become a preferential man eater.

The bottom line seems to be this. The rural people of Nepal must contend with many hazards and leopards attacking children is just one.