Leopard sneaks into NIBM campus in Pune

A full-grown leopard on Saturday strayed into the premises of National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) here and was rescued within a few hours.

A full-grown leopard on Saturday strayed into the premises of National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) in Pune and was rescued within a few hours.

Representative image

The big cat had sneaked into the campus in the morning and was spotted by a woman staffer in a small room.

“The scared animal, upon being sighted, moved to other adjacent room in the building. The woman, who was equally alarmed, had latched the door of the room from outside and then alerted the security and administration,” said Satyajit Gujar, deputy conservator of Forest department, who was a part of the rescue operation.

The department had received the call at around 9 am and a team was immediately rushed to the spot, he said.

“The leopard, aged around three, was hiding under a table with cupboards surrounding it. Forest officials faced some hardships while using tranquiliser gun. They had to break glass panes of the room,” the officer said.

It was only after three hours that the leopard could be tranquilised, added Gujar.

“The leopard was fully grown and was quite aggressive. However, the big cat was rescued without any injury and human-animal conflict was avoided. After rescuing, the animal was freed into jungles in the city outskirt,” he said.

Meanwhile, an NIBM employee said it was surprising that how the leopard managed to sneak into the campus and traversed inside the room.