11-year-old boy fights off leopard in Palghar forest; school bag saves his life

An 11-year-old boy in Maharashtra’s Palghar district has become an unlikely little hero, staring down a charging leopard and surviving an encounter that could so easily have turned fatal. His shield? Quick thinking, the fierce loyalty of a friend, and a humble schoolbag that took the blow meant for him.

The drama unfolded on Friday evening near Mala Padvipada, where class 5 student Mayank Kuvara was walking home from school. Out of the hush of the forest, a leopard leapt. But instead of freezing, Mayank and his friend met the predator with the raw, instinctive courage children sometimes muster before adults do — shouting, hurling stones, and raising a commotion so startling that the big cat retreated into the shadows it came from.

Though his schoolbag absorbed much of the impact, Mayank suffered claw wounds to his hand and is being treated at Vikramgad Rural Hospital, where doctors have stitched the injuries. Forest officers rushed first to the attack site and then to the hospital, shaken by how narrowly tragedy was averted. Resident Forest Officer Swapnil Mohite told PTI the department is taking the incident “with utmost seriousness”.

Authorities have since asked schools in leopard-prone pockets to shut by 4 pm. AI-enabled cameras are being installed to track the animal, and villages are being alerted through traditional Davandi drum announcements — an old warning system pressed back into urgent modern use.

But Mayank’s near-miss is not an isolated story; it is a symbol of a growing crisis unfolding far beyond Palghar.

Across multiple Indian states — from Delhi to Goa, from Karnataka to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh — leopards are slipping ever closer to human lives and landscapes. Their appearances are becoming alarmingly common as shrinking forests, disappearing prey, and expanding cities blur the ancient boundary between wild and domestic.

In Andhra Pradesh, leopards prowl the outskirts of Tirupati, drawn by stray dogs that feast on hostel food waste.

In Delhi, the big cats move through green corridors linking the Asola Bhatti Sanctuary to Sainik Farms and the Yamuna Biodiversity Park.
Goa’s lush Sattari, Chorla Ghat, and Paliyem regions now report sightings with unsettling frequency.

Karnataka has seen two leopards in north Bengaluru, while Kabini’s shadowy black panther occasionally slips into view.

And around Hyderabad — from Golconda Fort to Himayatsagar — repeated sightings have forced forest teams to set traps and raise alarms.

Together, these encounters paint a stark picture: as concrete spreads and forests shrink, leopards are no longer distant silhouettes in the wilderness but sudden, startling presences at doorsteps, school gates, farms, and village paths.

For Mayank, courage turned a nightmare into survival. But for thousands living on the edges of India’s forests, his story is a reminder etched in claw marks: the wild is not retreating — it is knocking at the door.

With PTI inputs