Caught on camera: Old video of leopard attacking cyclist goes viral. But it didn't happen in Dehradun-Rishikesh highway

A shocking video of a leopard attacking a man on a cycle has gone viral on the internet. IFS officer Susanta Nanda has shared the video on Twitter. According to Nanda, the incident happened on the Dehradun-Rishikesh highway but several Twitter users disputed the claims; some said that the attack occurred in Assam. Nonetheless, the incident once again highlighted the increasing man-animal conflict in India.

In the video, a man can be seen cycling on a busy highway which goes through a jungle. The incident happened in broad daylight and that too when there are several vehicles on the road. A few seconds into the clip, a leopard can be seen jumping out from the bushes and pouncing on the man.

Both the man and the leopard lose their balance due to the impact. The animal then quickly sprints back into the forest. The visibly shaken man then quickly goes to the other side of the road and flees the spot.



The same video was earlier shared by some media channels earlier in June this year.

The old video has now gone viral on Twitter with over 8000 likes and hundreds of retweets.

Commenting on such increasing human-animal conflicts, one user said: "I guess some previous encounter with humans made this animal to do so. Basically, a predatory animal (even a lion or others) does not know if a human is a prey or predator. Most of the species are smart enough to know that in an uncertain situation, a mutual backoff is fine."

Another Twitter user wondered why the car driver didn't bother to stop to help the man.

Most users also highlighted the fact that it's an old video and that it did not happen in the Dehradun-Rishikesh highway. According to some, this happened earlier this year in Assam's Kaziranga national park.