A young man in Odisha’s Cuttack district survived a violent encounter with a leopard inside a farmhouse on Friday night, managing to kill the predator with a kitchen knife while suffering severe injuries, officials said on Saturday.
The incident took place at Anantaprasad village on Friday night.
The injured man, identified as Subhranshu Bhol, was initially rushed to a local medical facility before being moved to SCB Medical College and Hospital due to the severity of his multiple wounds, according to Manoj Patra, Additional Conservator of Forests.
Forest department officials, on being informed, reached the scene and seized the leopard’s carcass from the farmhouse premises.
Sudharshan Bhol, the father of the injured man, recounted that his son was at the farmhouse—located within the Narsinghpur West forest range—when the sound of barking dogs caught his attention.
“When my son opened the door to check, a leopard jumped into the house and pounced on him. He tried to drive it away, but it went on attacking my son,” his father said.
“At that moment, Subhranshu grabbed hold of a kitchen knife and stabbed the leopard repeatedly, which weakened the animal. He later locked himself in a room and called me to rush with an ambulance,” he added.
Subhranshu was initially taken to a local hospital and later the forest department shifted him to SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack, his father said.
Patra further stated that the department has launched an official investigation to determine how the leopard managed to stray onto the farmhouse premises.
