Nepal, July 31 -- This story was originally published by Knowable Magazine.

In the afternoon of February 22, 67-year-old Bulal Maharjan, a farmer living on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal, was sitting on his porch chopping cauliflower leaves to feed his chickens. Hearing a loud thud as a parked motorcycle toppled, he turned and watched in horror as a leopard leapt away from the fallen vehicle and lunged at him, piercing its sharp canines into his forehead, its claws lacerating his hands.

Within seconds, neighbors swarmed in, and the leopard ran into a nearby house. They eventually trapped the animal inside. After nearly two hours of panic that saw two more people injured trying to control the distressed big cat, forest division offici...