Leopard trapped in Nashik housing colony

A Leopard that wandered into the concrete jungle of Nashik on Tuesday and kept residents hostage was trapped nearly four hours later, reports Zeeshan Shaikh.

A Leopard that wandered into the concrete jungle of Nashik on Tuesday and kept residents hostage was trapped nearly four hours later. The building residents were evacuated through windows before the leopard, prowling in the stairwell, was tranquillised with a blowgun. It was the fifth case of a leopard straying into a residential locality in the city, some 180 kilometres from Mumbai, in four years.

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With the surging crowds blocking the leopard’s exit routes, the big cat chose to keep to the stairwell and the residents behind bolted doors. The terrified residents kept themselves in their flats for close to four hours before policemen and local forest department officials rescued them through the windows.

The leopard was then tranquillised by members of the forest conservation department. “The leopard is healthy,” Assistant Conservator of Forest, Nashik, Arvind Vispute said. “We will keep him under observation and will release him safely in the dense forest in the next few days.”