Leopard on prowl in Meerut captured after 8 hours

A leopard was spotted in a house in the Pallavpuram locality of the district on Friday morning, causing panic among residents

A leopard was spotted in a house in the Pallavpuram locality of the district on Friday morning, causing panic among residents. The sighting of the leopard prompted people to stay indoors for several hours.

The Forest Department teams struggled for hours to tranquilize the leopard, which was captured on Friday evening after almost eight hours. (SOURCED)

Forest department teams struggled for hours to tranquillize the leopard, which was eventually captured on Friday evening after almost eight hours.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) of Meerut, Rajesh Kumar said that the leopard has been tranquilised and its rescue process is underway.

The DFO said leopards inhabit sugarcane fields and come out for shelter after harvesting of sugarcane crops this time of year. He said that it is difficult to say from where the animal entered the city’s populated area.

Dr Rajkumar Choudhary, a morning walker, spotted the leopard first around 8 am. He alerted the residents, in the meantime, the leopard jumped into the house of one, Swapnil Sharma. The terrified family locked themselves in the house.

Meanwhile, the matter was reported to the police, and cops made an announcement in the area asking people to remain indoors. The police informed the forest department, and a team of forest staff arrived with a net to catch the leopard. The leopard got entangled in the net but somehow escaped and started running in the streets.

Additionally, a school in the area instructed its students to remain in their classes, while police were manning the school gate to ensure the safety of students.

Later, a team of experts arrived with a tranquillizer gun, and the leopard was tranquillized in the evening. The leopard would be rescued and sent to Hastinapur to release in the wild.

This is the third instance when a leopard had entered the city area. Earlier, a leopard was spotted in a woodshop of Sadar in 2018 and it entered the Cantt hospital. Similarly, another leopard was spotted in a house in the Sadar area a few years ago.