The snarling adult, male leopard leapt at locals and forest officials as they tried to drive it into a wildlife sanctuary in West Bengal state. Forest official Dharma Dev Rai says villagers used knives, stones and batons to beat back the cat.

It injured six villagers, a policeman and four forest guards before being hit with a tranquilizer gun Tuesday. The big cat died within hours, and a post-mortem is being conducted. It happened near Siliguri, about 600 km from Kolkata. The people are recovering from their injuries, mostly swipes from the cat's claws.