Hyderabad: Leopard strays into city, caught, none hurt

Hyderabad: A strapping young male leopard strayed into the Patel Road area of Shamshabad on Sunday, but miraculously managed to stay out of trouble, despite being practically mobbed by groups of noisy people armed with mobile phones to shoot pictures and videos, pursuing the animal.

The leopard, with police struggling to keep inquisitive people at bay, was, however, safely captured on Monday morning. A police constable received minor injuries as the leopard made a dash for safety after being tranquillised.

When he first noticed it, Manne Vijay Kumar, who spotted the leopard on the terrace of his house, at first believed someone it might have been a stuffed toy. “After I woke up at around 6 am, I walked out onto the terrace and saw its tail near a satellite TV dish. I thought it was a toy and wanted to grab the tail and take it out. Then I noticed it was a real leopard. I nearly had a heart attack,” he told media personnel at the spot. He then rushed down, shouting out to the rest of his family to shut the doors and keep them locked and call the police for help. The police alerted the forest department and zoo officials. When a rescue team, led by Dr M.A. Hakeem, deputy director, Nehru Zoological Park, reached the spot, the leopard was hiding under the nook of the staircase leading to the terrace.

“To get a shot, our team had to go into the kitchen, which presented a proper view of its hiding place,” Dr Hakeem said. As the news of the leopard spread like wildfire, thousands of people thronged to the location to spot it. Though the Shadnagar police did manage to keep most of them at bay, many refused to heed to the police’s advice and were seen scurrying between narrow lanes around Vijay Kumar’s house, where the leopard was hidden, trying to catch a glimpse of it and take pictures.

Zoo officials heaved a sigh of relief that the leopard did not attack anyone after it tried to escape.

“It was fortunate that the leopard did not attack anyone after it tried to escape. The people were noisy and refusing to stay away, were ignoring all instructions,” a zoo official said.

Once the darts hit the wild animal, the leopard leapt over the compound wall and ran for a little distance away, before the drugs took effect. “By then, it was drowsy. We used a long stick to prod it and make sure it was immobilised,” said Dr S.A. Asadullah.

The leopard was then taken to the zoo in a transportation cage and examined for injuries.

“It was pronounced healthy. It is a strapping male. We will keep it under observation for 48 hours to ensure that the effects of the drugs wear off fully. After that, it will be taken to a forest and released into the wild,” Dr Sidhanand Kukrety, director of the zoo, said.

Plans are also afoot to release other male leopard, caught in Nalgonda district six days ago, in one of the wildlife reserves in the state soon.