Fully Grown Male Leopard Gets Caught After Attacking People

**kellyhound** · #1 ● 01-28-2019, 05:14 PM

Fear gripped Savarkarnagar at Gangapur Road as a fully grown male leopard strayed into the upmarket area and went on an attacking spree leaving two local journalists, a corporator and a couple of locals injured on Friday morning.

The wild cat leaped from one house to another while the forest department staff, police, fire brigade personnel and some locals sweated out for over two hours before trapping it using a net at 10.30 am.

There was panic everywhere as people were seen shutting the doors and windows of their houses.

Among the journalists, Kapil Bhaskar was seriously injured on the head and in the neck region and received 40 stitches while Tabrez Shaikh suffered a fracture in the leg. Both of them are being treated in a private hospital, where their condition was stated to be out of danger.

Corporator Santosh Gaikwad, who suffered minor scratches on the body, returned to the spot soon after receiving first aid in the hospital and tried to help in the capture of the animal. The other two residents received minor scratches.

Tabrez fractured his left leg when he fell off the tin shed on which he was standing and trying to take photos as the leopard pounced on him from behind.

It was a close shave with death for Kapil. He was standing in the verandah of a bungalow in the Palm Springs locality and trying to take photos of the animal when it suddenly came out of the bungalow’s garage and menacingly charged at him.

The leopard pounced on Kapil before he could react and mauled him after he fell. The animal, however, released him soon after the forest staff and police arrived at the spot but leaped to another house adjoining the bungalow.

“What hampered the operation to catch the beast was the presence of a large number of curious onlookers. The big cat grew more aggressive as it saw the crowd,” said a forest officer.

Hema Kale, a resident of the area, first first saw the leopard around 8am while she was meditating in the garden, said Mahendra Chhoriya, an eyewitness.

“Initially, she thought it was a dog but she soon realised that it was leopard. She managed to come out of the garden stealthily and headed straight to our home and started shouting,” he said.

Chhoriya said a retired police inspector, Ramesh Patil called the control room and alerted police. The animal ran towards a petrol pump where fire brigade and police personnel had already arrived.

“I informed the police commissioner and requested him to send police force. Seeing the crowd, the leopard got more aggressive and charged at people. The forest officials trapped it with great difficulty,” he added.

Corporator Gaikwad said that he received a call from a resident of the area around 8 am about the leopard’s presence in the area.

“Local residents came to know and gathered in large numbers due to which the leopard became aggressive.

The forest department was informed and fired a tranquilliser, making it more violent.”
Range forest officer Ravindra Bhoge who oversaw the operation, said that there is a possibility that the leopard strayed into Savarnagar from the Makhmalabad area.

“Around 10.30 am, we could trap the leopard. It was difficult to tranquilise it as it was in an open area and there was lot of disturbance. We have kept it in a safe place and will be doing a medical test before releasing it into the wild as per orders,” he said.

Chief conservator of forest Vijay Shelke admitted that it is difficult to cordon off a densely populated residential area. “We request people to refrain from going to the spot to see the animal. That is the big problem. I visited the injured in the hospital and they are stable,” he said.

A leopard had attacked a motorist in Makhmalabad area recently while a farm labourer was attacked by another leopard in Deolali.

The forest department had caught a leopard in the Chunchale area while another with a cub have been spotted in Deolali.