Balrampur, Dec 14 (IANS): A 10-year-old boy has been killed by a leopard in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district.

Police said the boy Sameer Ansari was attacked by the leopard when he had gone to graze goats in a forest area near Dharampur village under the Haraiya police station limits.

“Hearing the boy’s shrieks, many villagers rushed to the spot with sticks and began making a noise to scare away the big cat. However, by the time the villagers could reach the spot, the leopard had already severed the head of the boy. Later the family members arrived and took him to hospital,” said Station Head Officer (SHO), Hariya, Govind Kumar.

Meanwhile, the forest department has deployed teams to catch the big cat and a team of police and forest officials are patrolling the area.

DFO Balrampur, Semmaran, said that they will take assistance from infra-red drones to catch the leopard.

Recently, two leopards were trapped using IR drones in Bahraich.

The victim’s father Shafiq Ansari was in Mumbai, while the mother Rukhsana said that her son Sameer had been missing from home since Tuesday afternoon.

Forest Range Officer K.P. Singh said that villagers have been advised to remain alert to protect themselves from leopards.

DFO Semmaran said that the forest department is also taking other measures to protect the villagers from leopard attacks, including increasing patrols in affected areas and installing camera traps to monitor leopard activity.