Pintu Dey is recovering in hospital in India’s northeastern state of Assam after being badly mauled outside his house in an attack captured in a series of startling and gruesome photographs.
“My two children were inside the house and so I went to save them when I found some policemen aiming to shoot the leopard,” Dey, who is in his 40s, told AFP from his hospital bed.
“I pleaded against killing the cat and literally stood between the policemen and the leopard like a shield, and all of a sudden I found myself attacked and blood splattered all over.”
The leopard had strayed into a residential area in the centre of Guwahati, the capital of Assam, and attacked another three people, killing one.
Dey also suffered a fractured hand and cuts caused by multiple bites on his hands and legs.
The cat was later tranquilised by forest officials and taken to the Assam State Zoo in Guwahati. On Monday it was set free in a tiger reserve in Manas, western Assam.