Bengaluru: Bannerghatta Biological Park veterinary Umashankar does a challenging task of darting a leopardess on a tree top of about 100-feet successfully at Igloor village of Channapatna in Ramanagar district and the sedated leopardess was rescued and shifted to the rescue centre in Bannerghatta Biological Park of Bengaluru.
The caught leopardess is said to be about two-and-half years old and is suspected to have been causing trouble to the people in the vicinity of Igloor including an attack on a child.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle on Sunday, Umashankar said he received a call to dart a leopard on a tree at Igloor village at around 2 pm and after permission from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) reached the spot at 3.30 pm.
He said he noticed a leopard on the tree top and plenty of stray dogs and hundreds of villagers had gathered around the place to catch a glimpse of the leopard on a tree.
Initially, Umashankar said, he thought the tree height would be of about 30-feet but it was around 90 to 100-feet in height and the task was challenging to dart a leopard at such a height. Fortunately, he said, there was no wind blowing across which made his task of darting the leopard easier.
“Syringes used to sedate the animal are made up of plastic and wind blowing would have spoiled the task of darting the animal,” Umashankar stated and said darting an animal down is easier than aiming an animal on a tree top. The leopard was darted twice by the Vet before the leopardess went unconscious.
A farmer climbed the tree top to know the condition of the darted leopard and dragged the leopard down where forest personnel had spread net around the tree to catch the falling leopard. The leopard fell into the net and was shifted to a cage by the forest personnel.
