Coimbatore : A woman rescued her 11-year-old daughter from the jaws of a leopard, which was dragging her from the house. She kept beating the leopard with firewood at Valparai last night till it left the child and escaped.

Police said today that Muthulakshmi, 30, working as tea plucker in TANTEA estatein Periyakallar in Valparai, returned home after duty last night and went along with daughter Sathya to take firewood stored in a backyard of
the house.

Suddenly, a leopard, hiding in a nearby bush, pounced on Sathya and caught hold her by neck. Hearing the screams, Muthulakshmi took a big firewood and hit the animal, which loosened the grip and ran into the jungle.
Sathya was admitted to the Pollachi Government Hospital.

Forest department decided to place a cage to trap the leopard, which had strayed into the area some 10 days ago. There. was a report recently that a woman in Kanchamalai area was attacked by the leopard, department sources said.