PUNE, Oct. 13 -- A five-year-old girl, Shivanya Bombe, died in a leopard attack Sunday morning in the Pimparkhed village of Shirur tehsil, one of the hotspots for the human-leopard conflict in Pune district. This is the third such death in the Junnar forest division since April this year, and the seventh such death due to leopard attacks in Pimparkhed and the nearby Jambut village over the past couple of years. Ganesh Bombe, Shivanya's uncle, recalled, "My niece was carrying water and a cap for her grandfather who was working in the field just 200 metres behind our house. A leopard hiding in a nearby sugarcane field leaped out and attacked her. The wildcat caught the girl's neck and tried to drag her away. Hearing Shivanya scream, her grandfather ran to the leopard and fought desperately to save her." "He somehow managed to free Shivanya from the animal's grip. We took her to the nearest hospital where doctors advised us to take her to the rural hospital in Manchar. We reached there as fast as we could, but she did not survive," Ganesh said. Nilkanth Gavhane, range forest officer, Shirur, said, "To capture the animal, 11 cages are being installed at and around the site and camera traps are also being set up to monitor the area. We are following standard procedures. Compensation will be provided to the victim's family." Family members claimed that recently, Shivanya's father had had a narrow escape when a leopard followed him while he was riding his two-wheeler. Former MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil visited the victim's family in Manchar after learning of the incident. Patil said, "Human deaths caused by leopard attacks have been steadily rising. The forest department is making efforts to mitigate the conflict, but a strong policy decision from the central government is needed. The government has not permitted a sterilisation programme for leopards due to which the situation is escalating."...