A little angel, who became the source of happiness for all her relatives and residents of Limbodi over the last 11 months, took her last breath and left everyone in sorrow on Friday after being bitten and injured by leopard last week. This is the first recorded death by a leopard attack in Indore in over 10 years.
The 11-month-old girl named Bhoomika was going to celebrate her first birthday on April 13 with her loved ones. Her parents despite their financial constraints were planning to celebrate the day and express gratitude to the lord for the blessing.
Before they could thank the lord, they lost their source of happiness as Bhoomika took her last breath at 3 am on Friday. Heartbroken, parents especially the father is unsure of how to handle himself, his family and deal with loss.
“She wouldn’t care about food, toy or anything in the world if she saw me, she would run to play with me whenever I was home,” her father Sunil Gadekar said. The entire family is grieving the loss of the first child in the next generation.
“She was more than a son for all of us, she was truly the ‘laadli’ of our entire family and even village,” Gadekar said.
Entire village cried at the funeral
Following the sad demise of Bhoomika, she was buried behind Shivdham temple on Friday. In a brief funeral, the entire village cried their hearts out and prayed.
As per the rituals, a carved stone will be put up on her grave soon, where her loved ones can gather and pray while remembering her. Sindoor is put on the stone as a mark of her soul.
First unsuccessful attempt at leopard rescue
Nine days ago, an 11-month-old girl injured in a leopard attack had been struggling to survive, succumbed on Friday.
Six people were injured in the leopard attack, including rescue team officials.
Among the injured, three members of a caretaker's family had suffered severe injuries.
Forest department had deposited only two lakh rupees in their account for the treatment of the injured, but as per bills about four lakh rupees were spent on their treatment.
On March 10, forest department had received information about sighting of leopard at Jhabua farm house on Khandwa road. After this the forest department's rescue team began its rescue operation to catch the leopard.
Even after six hours of hard work on that day, the team was not successful.
To catch the leopard at night, the team tied a goat in the farm house and also planted a cage, but the leopard escaped the trap.
Leopard attacked Gadekar family
On March 11, at eight in the morning, the team resumed the rescue. The team searched in the field for a while.
Soon after, the team found out that the leopard had ventured out of the farm house and reached the Shivdham colony in Limbodi.
The leopard was first sighted by a local resident, who informed the department.
The leopard entered Sukhlal's house in the under construction building. Here, the leopard was first seen by her elder daughter Aarti, who screamed.
At this the leopard attacked her. Caretaker Sukhlal ran on hearing the screams of the daughter. By then the leopard had caught the girl's hand in his jaw.
Sukhlal was also bitten by the leopard.
Seeing this, residents including his wife ran with the stick. Leopard hid in the bathroom of the building under construction.
After this, the leopard also injured Sukhlal's 11-month-old granddaughter Bhoomika.
And it just went downhill for Gadekar family…
Since then, the injured were undergoing treatment at Choitharam Hospital but Bhoomika succumbed at three o'clock on Friday (March 19).
Bhoomika had also undergone a surgery for fixing her intestines which was torn due to leopard’s attack. She suffered severe injuries in her foot and chest as well.
“The girl had multiple closed lacerated wounds and could not recover because she was malnourished,” Dr Amit Bhatt, Deputy Director, Health services, Choithram hospital, said.
Leopard was caught after 24 hours!
The leopard was caught by the 40-member rescue team twenty-four hours later. The leopard was taken to the zoo after being tranquilized. The leopard was released into the forest after testing.
Forest department to compensate & help the family
The Forest Department helped the injured as financial assistance of two lakh rupees until now. “As per our provisions, the entire cost of treatment will be compensated for as bills are submitted and further, because we all lost a life, the family is eligible for Rs 4,00,000 compensation. In case any of the injured family members further suffer and become physically handicapped, then we would also provide another Rs 2,50,000 as per provisions,” chief conservator of forests HS Mohanta said. He added that the incident is tragic and has hurt the entire city and department will try to help the family as much as possible.
Questions arise...
The 11-month-old girl named Bhoomika was going to celebrate her first birthday on April 13 with her loved ones. Her parents despite their financial constraints were planning to celebrate the day and express gratitude to the lord for the blessing.
Before they could thank the lord, they lost their source of happiness as Bhoomika took her last breath at 3 am on Friday. Heartbroken, parents especially the father is unsure of how to handle himself, his family and deal with loss.
“She wouldn’t care about food, toy or anything in the world if she saw me, she would run to play with me whenever I was home,” her father Sunil Gadekar said. The entire family is grieving the loss of the first child in the next generation.
“She was more than a son for all of us, she was truly the ‘laadli’ of our entire family and even village,” Gadekar said.
Entire village cried at the funeral
Following the sad demise of Bhoomika, she was buried behind Shivdham temple on Friday. In a brief funeral, the entire village cried their hearts out and prayed.
As per the rituals, a carved stone will be put up on her grave soon, where her loved ones can gather and pray while remembering her. Sindoor is put on the stone as a mark of her soul.
First unsuccessful attempt at leopard rescue
Nine days ago, an 11-month-old girl injured in a leopard attack had been struggling to survive, succumbed on Friday.
Six people were injured in the leopard attack, including rescue team officials.
Among the injured, three members of a caretaker's family had suffered severe injuries.
Forest department had deposited only two lakh rupees in their account for the treatment of the injured, but as per bills about four lakh rupees were spent on their treatment.
On March 10, forest department had received information about sighting of leopard at Jhabua farm house on Khandwa road. After this the forest department's rescue team began its rescue operation to catch the leopard.
Even after six hours of hard work on that day, the team was not successful.
To catch the leopard at night, the team tied a goat in the farm house and also planted a cage, but the leopard escaped the trap.
Leopard attacked Gadekar family
On March 11, at eight in the morning, the team resumed the rescue. The team searched in the field for a while.
Soon after, the team found out that the leopard had ventured out of the farm house and reached the Shivdham colony in Limbodi.
The leopard was first sighted by a local resident, who informed the department.
The leopard entered Sukhlal's house in the under construction building. Here, the leopard was first seen by her elder daughter Aarti, who screamed.
At this the leopard attacked her. Caretaker Sukhlal ran on hearing the screams of the daughter. By then the leopard had caught the girl's hand in his jaw.
Sukhlal was also bitten by the leopard.
Seeing this, residents including his wife ran with the stick. Leopard hid in the bathroom of the building under construction.
After this, the leopard also injured Sukhlal's 11-month-old granddaughter Bhoomika.
And it just went downhill for Gadekar family…
Since then, the injured were undergoing treatment at Choitharam Hospital but Bhoomika succumbed at three o'clock on Friday (March 19).
Bhoomika had also undergone a surgery for fixing her intestines which was torn due to leopard’s attack. She suffered severe injuries in her foot and chest as well.
“The girl had multiple closed lacerated wounds and could not recover because she was malnourished,” Dr Amit Bhatt, Deputy Director, Health services, Choithram hospital, said.
Leopard was caught after 24 hours!
The leopard was caught by the 40-member rescue team twenty-four hours later. The leopard was taken to the zoo after being tranquilized. The leopard was released into the forest after testing.
Forest department to compensate & help the family
The Forest Department helped the injured as financial assistance of two lakh rupees until now. “As per our provisions, the entire cost of treatment will be compensated for as bills are submitted and further, because we all lost a life, the family is eligible for Rs 4,00,000 compensation. In case any of the injured family members further suffer and become physically handicapped, then we would also provide another Rs 2,50,000 as per provisions,” chief conservator of forests HS Mohanta said. He added that the incident is tragic and has hurt the entire city and department will try to help the family as much as possible.
Questions arise...
1. Despite knowing that the leopard can easily move for over 10 kilometres in one night, why did the forest department not inform the people in the radius and take better precautions for avoiding any such attack by the leopard?
2. The leopard was sent back to forest after a day, what if the leopard has tasted human blood and might attack on other children citing easy prey?
3. Despite news about the leopard in the area, why did people not take caution?
4. Knowing that leopard could attack people, why were people following their curiosity over logic and hoarding to see and capture the leopard in their cameras during rescue?
2. The leopard was sent back to forest after a day, what if the leopard has tasted human blood and might attack on other children citing easy prey?
3. Despite news about the leopard in the area, why did people not take caution?
4. Knowing that leopard could attack people, why were people following their curiosity over logic and hoarding to see and capture the leopard in their cameras during rescue?