Ugandan authorities were on Monday hunting for a leopard that snatched and ate the three-year-old son of a female ranger working in the popular Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The boy had been left in the care of a nanny at the unfenced staff quarters of a safari lodge in the park, when he was taken by the big cat on Friday night.

Wildlife authority spokesman Bashir Hangi said the child had followed the nanny outdoors.

“The maid was not aware the child followed her. She heard the kid scream for help, she intervened but it was too late. The leopard had vanished with it in the bush and a search was mounted until we got the skull the next day,” he said.