Jaipur: Leopard caught by forest personnel after 24 hrs

The forest department’s team managed to tranquillise the big cat on the terrace of a house, on Friday afternoon. Earlier in the day, two personnel of the forest department were injured during an attempt to trap a leopard.

"Earlier in the morning, the panther was seen near the SMS Stadium and later in the Lal Kothi area. The personnel tried to trap him but it injured Gaurav Rathi, a forest employee and guard Raj Kishore during the search operation', District Forest Officer, Sudharshan Sharma said.

Leopard in the Posh area

An adult male leopard was first spotted at the residential area (a posh area) on Takhteshahi Road, situated between JLN Road and Tonk Road, of the state capital on Thursday afternoon. The CCTV footage found it next entered Sawai Man Singh School where its movement was continuously observed. Following which on Friday, holidays were declared in two schools of Jaipur, namely SMS and Subodh Public school, as was seen in their premises too.

The joint teams of forest officials and police department traced the panther ever since it was seen near the Takhteshahi road on Thursday. On Thursday night, police had warned the residents to keep their houses and windows shut in the night and inform the police control room or the nearest police station in case leopard was sighted in the area.

According to District Forest Officer, Sudharshan Sharma: "Forest department officials then received information that the leopard was hiding inside a storeroom on the terrace of a house in Lal Kothi area. The leopard had been tranquillised and will be released in the forest after a medical examination. The panther perhaps entered the city from the Jhalana forest area and moved to the university and then to the Modi Doongri area."

A huge gathering of bystander came of roads and terrace to watch the leopard trapped on the roof. "Everybody in our colony was shocked to see the visuals of Leopard. We did not send our children to school and preferred to stay indoors", Nimisha Bhatnagar, a resident at Takhtashahi road told DH.

Leopard population on the rise

As per the 2019 census, there has been an increase in the leopard count by 12% in the Jhalana forest area. The number of leopards has gone up from 25 in 2018 to 28 in 2019 in Jhalana. Two months ago a leopard was captured after it strayed into Smiriti Van, a public park on JLN Road. The department had installed two cages where the leopard was later trapped. The park was closed for visitors during the operation.