Leopard attack clip shot in India, not Bangladesh

Published on July 10, 2025 at 07:59
2 min read
By Rasheek MUJIB, Devesh MISHRA, AFP Bangladesh

Footage from India of a man's bare-handed fight against a leopard has been falsely shared online as an incident from Bangladesh. The critically endangered species is rarely seen in Bangladesh although one was recently photographed by camera traps in forests in Chittagong Hill Tracts.

"Human fight with leopard at Lakshmipur brick kiln," reads a Bengali-language Facebook post from June 28, 2025, referring to a coastal district in Bangladesh's Chittagong division (archived link).

The accompanying clip shows a man arm-wrestling a big cat while a crowd hurls stones and bricks from a distance.

Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured July 8, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The video circulated with similar claims elsewhere on Facebook after a leopard was spotted in Chittagong Hill Tracts, raising hopes among conservationists (archived link).

Leopards are listed as vulnerable as a species globally, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but critically endangered in the South Asian country of more than 170 million people, warning its population may no longer be viable.

Previous reports of the elusive cats had been based on paw prints and fleeting sightings in the forest, according to a zoologist Monirul Khan from Jahangirnagar University.

A reverse search of keyframes on Google found the video in a report from Indian news outlet NDTV on June 25, 2025 (archived link).

"Man fights leopard bare-handed in Lakhimpur Kheri," the clip's text overlay says, referring to district in India's Uttar Pradesh megastate that has a similar-sounding name to Lakshmipur in Bangladesh.

People in the video are heard shouting in Hindi.

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (L) and the video from NDTV

Several Indian media organisations reported the incident and featured similar visuals (archived here and here).

An officer at Uttar Pradesh's forest department confirmed the incident occurred in Lakhimpur Kheri, in a brick kiln in Baburi village.

"Villagers alerted the forest department, leading to the leopard's swift tranquilisation and transfer to forest department's treatment centre," forest ranger Rajesh Dixit told AFP on July 8. "Some forest officials also sustained injuries during this operation."

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