Leopard strays into Alwar city, caught after 7 hours

ALWAR: An eight-year-old leopard was captured seven hours after it was spotted in a residential area in Alwar city on Friday morning, officials said.

It was released into the Suga Hodi forest behind Alwar fort, they added.

The leopard strayed into Scheme Number 1 in Arya Nagar area of the city at around 6am. It was seen near the house of a chartered accountant, who said she was informed by her neighbours that a big cat-like animal was wandering near her house.

“When I came out with my husband for a morning walk, we started shouting after seeing it. It went to the terrace of our house and hid inside a storeroom on the third floor,” Rakhi Garg, the chartered accountant, said.

They informed the forest department and a team from its local office as well as from the Sariska Tiger Reserve arrived and started preparing to catch the leopard. They tried thrice to tranquilise the animal but failed. The team could manage to tranquilise the leopard at around 1.15pm. The leopard was inside Garg’s house for more than five hours, then came out on the road and hid under a vehicle, officials said. The leopard was taken to Alwar forest office for a medical check-up before being released into forest.

“The leopard had a small injury near its eye, which was treated before its release,” said district forest officer Alok Nath Gupta. HTC