On Monday, October 24, 2022, in the early hours of Diwali, in Aarey Milk Colony, Goregaon, Mumbai, India, a 16-month-old girl was mauled to death by a leopardin the early hours of Diwali, in Aarey Milk Colony, Goregaon, Mumbai, India, a 16-month-old girl was mauled to death by a leopard.
At 5:45 in the morning, the animal picked up the child, Itika Lot, just outside her front door. When Itika followed her outside to light a diya in a mandir just a few feet from their house to mark the first day of Diwali, her mother Bharati had left the front door open.
The household resides at Dairy Unit No. 15 in Aarey Colony. The village is adjacent to the recently designated forest area of Aarey, which is now managed by Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
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“My sister-in-law called the neighbors as soon as the animal grabbed Itika. We spread out in a big group to look. Around 6:30 p.m., we located Itika in the jungle, some 500 meters from her home. She had severe wounds. Satish Lot, the child’s uncle, works with a volunteer group of wildlife enthusiasts and conservationists to track leopard activity in Aarey using camera traps. “The leopard was still sitting there, barely 10 feet away,” he said.
Itika was taken by ambulance to the Seven Hills hospital in Marol, where she passed away shortly after being admitted. At Siddharth Hospital, a subsequent post-mortem determined that trauma and excessive blood loss were the causes of death.
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