Overview

• Rahul, four, is recovering under specialized care in Thrissur after his father used a stone to drive off a leopard that attacked him in a Malakkappara tribal hut.
• The Kerala Forest Department has designated human-wildlife conflict a state disaster and activated a 10-point action plan with rapid response teams and real-time monitoring.
• Plans to relocate 47 tribal families from landslide- and wildlife-prone settlements to Maraankode are on hold pending further environmental assessment.
• Displaced since the 2018 floods, families in Veerankudi and Arekkapp live in makeshift huts at forest boundaries, leaving them vulnerable to predator incursions.
• The latest mauling adds to a two-year wave of leopard incidents in Kerala and neighboring Tamil Nadu that have injured and killed children.