JORHAT, May 3: With an increase of the leopard population in the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, the frequency of leopards attacking humans or vice-versa has commensurately increased near the sanctuary. Last night one Kamal Hazarika was attacked by a leopard at Kachogoral, Sonarigaon and on March 6, a leopard was killed after it attacked and injured four persons at Duliagaon and had killed a calf. Both the villages are situated near the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary. This year, further incidents of the man-animal conflict was reported from near the sanctuary on February 11, when a person was bitten by a leopard and another incident, when a leopard was killed near Sonari by workers of a tea garden a few days ago. Last year, workers of the Meleng tea estate dropped all work on two occasions and fled due to sight and attacks by the big cat. In the last two years, more than 47 leopards have been killed by man and four persons have lost their lives due to leopard attacks and more than 30 injured. Assistant Conservator of Forests Gunin Saikia, while affirming that the leopard conservation efforts have been a success and there have been a great increase in the leopard population, pointed that leopards were more prone to come into conflict with man as they usually lived in sparse shrub and not dense jungle and were likely to forage for food in villages neighbouring the sanctuary. Leopards were drawn to poultry, goats and cows kept by the villagers and found them easy pickings, Saikia said.