COIMBATORE: An eight-year-old boy was killed in a suspected attack by a sloth bear on Monday evening.

The victim, identified by the forest department as Noorsal Huk, son of a migrant couple from Assam and residing at Waverly Estate area near Valparai waterfalls, was going home after visiting a neighbour’s house to get milk, when the animal emerged from the thicket and pounced on him. It then dragged him away around 6.45 pm.

As the boy did not return home for a long time, the parents launched a search and found his body in a nearby tea estate area. The body has been sent for an autopsy at Valparai Government Hospital.

After examining the nature of injuries, the forest department officials suspect the animal involved in the attack to be a sloth bear.

This incident comes after a six-year-old girl, also the daughter of a migrant couple, was dragged away by a leopard right in front of her mother behind their house at the labour quarters in Pachamalai Estate on June 20.

The forest department recovered the partially consumed remains of the girl’s body. The leopard was then trapped in a cage placed by the forest department and relocated to a different forest area in Top Slip.