Leopard caught after five-hour drama
GURGAON: A leopard entered a house in Durga Colony, Sohna, near Gurgaon, on Thursday and trapped six people in a house during a five-hour standoff that ended when forest officials shot a dart to tranquilise the animal.
A side of Durga Colony opens into fields adjacent to the Aravalli range, from where leopards and hyenas have increasingly been straying into human settlements in search of food and water.
Locals said the animal came to the area around 3am. “We heard the monkeys making a noise and we thought they are fighting but around 5am we learned that the leopard has attacked a monkey and eaten it. After spending three hours at the outskirt of the village, it came inside and was roaming from one lane to another,” said Jeet Ram, a resident. Around 9am, the leopard almost attacked a person near an auto stand who ran to safety after a youth nearby raised an alarm.
“I immediately informed police but by then the leopard had entered the narrow lane of the Durga Colony,” said Luv Kumar, who had the lucky escape.
Before entering the house where it was eventually tranquilised, the big cat attacked a 30-year-old man and a 6-year-old child.
Both received scratches that were not life threatening.
“My wife was cleaning the house and son was watching television when we heard the leopard in our lane. The main gate was open and when my wife went out to see, it followed her and she locked herself in our son’s study”, said 42-year-old Kanwar Pal Bhardwaj.
Videos shot by onlookers showed the big cat was frantically trying to escape, aiming for a tall gate and running across houses to find a way out.
Officials were able to sedate the leopard in their third attempt, putting a net around it and carrying it away in a cage.