The massive cat approached the family while they were sitting in their hut.
A leopard in India proved to be no match again Kiran Baiga. The mother rescued her young son after a leopard snatched him while they were sitting in their hut, according to CNN.
The cat approached the family and took off with the child. Baiga then sprang into action and chased the cat about a kilometer to get her son back.
"The lady was sitting in her hut with her children when the leopard came," Y P Singh, field director of the Sanjay-Dubri National Park and Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, recounted.
"It took the child and started to run away when the lady chased him, screaming, and more people showed up, so the leopard let go of the child and ran away."
Luckily, the boy, about 5 years old, survived the incident.
"He wasn't very injured, but the leopard's teeth had sunk into him. He was admitted to a hospital, and he is completely fine now," Singh added.
Sanjay-Dubri is home to several species of animals. But like many national parks in India, there is a buffer zone where some live alongside the animals, CNN explains.
However, this buffer zone is not fenced off. And although the area is monitored, the animals still do as they wish.
"A leopard does not care about what is the core or the buffer zone. There is no fixed boundary for them," Singh notes.
"These forests are monitored by forest officials, but it is not possible to track each and every movement of wild animals. You can only track animals that are collared. Otherwise, animals move freely."
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