Bengaluru, 18 Nov

A 52-year-old woman was mauled to death by a leopard near here, officials said on Monday. Kariamma had gone to cut grass at an agricultural field near her home at Kambalu, Gollarahatti, in Nelamangala taluk in Bengaluru Rural district on Sunday evening when the incident happened, they said.

The field, where she was working, was adjacent to a forest which is frequented by leopards, and warnings were also issued to villagers in recent times to not venture into the vicinity. There were instances of leopard killing dogs and other strays, a senior forest officer said.

When she did not return, her family members went searching for her and discovered her half-eaten body and reported it to the forest officials, he added.

A 30-member team of leopard task force, 30 staff and 10 officers of the forest department reached the site along with forensic experts to take samples of the hair, blood stains and footprints of the leopard in order to catch the big cat, the officer said. PTI