Man-eating leopard ate a three-year-old boy alive after snatching the child at a safari park in Uganda on Friday. The horrifying incident took place when the boy was with his nanny in an unfenced part of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
On Monday, Ugandan authorities were hunting for the leopard to avoid another tragic incident in the area. The boy was the son of a female ranger working in the popular national park. According to a ranger at the park, the animal grabbed the boy and dragged him into the bush. Park authorities recovered the boy's skull the next day.
"The maid was not aware the child followed her. She heard the kid scream for help, she intervened but it was too late the leopard had vanished with it in the bush and a search was mounted until we got the skull the next day," wildlife authority spokesman Bashir Hangi said, according to Agence France-Presse, adding: “Once it has eaten human flesh the temptations are high to eat another human being, it becomes dangerous."
The victim's father Francis Manana Nabugyere said, according to People magazine: "I have not talked to them about the incident but I would expect something reasonable to compensate me, although my son's life is gone."
Nabugyere also said the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) laid his son’s remains to rest in a coffin.
The toddler’s death comes a week after a graphic video surfaced online showing the owner of a South African park attacked by one of his lions.
Mike Hodge, the 72-year-old owner of Marakele Animal Sanctuary in Thabazimbi, was mauled by the lion. He entered the animal’s enclosure to investigate a strange odor. The 10-year-old lion was shot dead.
“There is no information coming out of the hospital but all I know is that he is alive and his wife and daughter are with him,” an unnamed friend of Hodge told the Sun. “I do not know how badly hurt he is, but he is a lovely guy and I wish him all the best.”
Recently another incident made headlines about a bear mauling a man to death in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. The man reportedly approached the animal to click a selfie when it attacked him. Forest officials recovered the body of the victim after tranquilizing the bear.