Leopard captured from Ghaziabad court released in Saharanpur range
The leopard had injured at least 10 persons at the Ghaziabad courts on Wednesday afternoon before it was cornered in the building stairwell and captured after being tranquillised
The eight-year-old male leopard that was rescued from the Ghaziabad district courts complex on Wednesday evening was released into the Saharanpur ranges early Thursday morning, said officials of the forest department.
The leopard had injured at least 10 persons at the Ghaziabad courts on Wednesday afternoon before it was cornered in the building stairwell and captured after being tranquillised.
Eye-witnesses said the animal was hiding on the upper floors of the court building and came down to the third, second and first floor around 4pm Wednesday and started attacking people in a bid to escape from there, said forest officials,adding that it took them about four hours to corner and rescue the animal by around 8.15pm Wednesday.
“After the capture, we took the animal for a medical examination and treatment. It had numerous injuries for which we administered the animal antibiotics and multivitamins. By 3am, a team left Ghaziabad and released the leopard in Saharanpur forest range,” said Ganga Prasad, conservator of forests.
Forest officials in Ghaziabad said the animal probably ventured into the courts complex on Tuesday night and hid in the upper floors. The officials said there is no leopard habitat in Ghaziabad and they are exploring how the leopard had reached the courts.
“It probably ended up at the courts complex chasing some stray dog or other animal. It must have hid in the upper floors of the courts complex. Since it is a nocturnal animal, it came out on Wednesday evening and attacked people in its frenzy to escape... We cannot say where the leopard came from with certainty but we have three possibilities,” said Manish Singh, divisional forest officer, Ghaziabad.
The first is that the leopard probably ventured into the city via the river Hindon route which has sufficient water and presence of small animals. The second possibility is that the animal probably came all the way from Amangarh Tiger Reserve in Bijnor, Singh said.
“The third possibility that it lost its habitat in the sugarcane fields in western Uttar Pradesh after the harvesting season. The sugarcane fields are a safe habitat for leopards and their sightings are common in the months of November and December after the fields are harvested,” Singh said.
The police on Thursday identified one more injured man as Achin Kumar, a lawyer. With this, the tally of those injured in the leopard attack is now 10. They suffered multiple injuries and are admitted to different hospitals in Ghaziabad.
“All the injured are under treatment and stable. There may be other people who may have sustained minor injuries as a result of a fall or otherwise when people started fleeing the courts complex in a panic,” said Nipun Agarwal, deputy commissioner of police, (city).
