The rescued leopard at Nailady in Brahmavar taluk

In a bizzare incident, a dog found itself trapped with a leopard inside the storeroom of a house for more than three hours, at Nailady in Brahmavar taluk of Udupi district on Sunday.

After one and half hours of operation by the forest department officials, the leopard was caught in a cage and later was released into the reserve forest.

According to forest officials, the dog probably wanted to escape the leopard and entered the storeroom of the house. However, the leopard managed to follow it inside. While trying to capture its prey, there was a lot of sound in the room owing to the scrap items dumped in the room. As a result, the family members woke up. On noticing, the leopard inside the storeroom, the members quickly bolted them in at around 4.30 am. The forest officials led by RFO Chidanandappa rushed to the spot and carried out an operation to capture the leopard.

A cage was placed near the door of the storeroom by covering nets and plastic all over, to ensure that the leopard does not leap through the roof. Later, using a stick, the officials pushed the leopard inside the cage and the door of the cage was closed. After veterinary doctors checked the leopard at a veterinary clinic in Saibrakatte, it was released inside the forest.

Villagers said that the straying of leopard into Billadi and surrounding villages has increased for the last few years. Last year, a leopard had fallen into a well in the nearby village.

The house where the leopard was trapped in the cage belongs to Taramma Shetty and her son Agnesh Shetty. Meanwhile, the pet dog has suffered injuries in its neck in the leopard attack.