New Delhi:
The residents of the Sadullapur village of Greater Noida had an exciting Sunday after sighting a leopard in the morning. The forest department was alerted and a from the National Zoological Park, one from Meerut and one comprising volunteers from Wildlife SOS reached the spot around 9.30 am. Combing operations were carried out the big cat was finally caught seven hours later at 4.30 pm. The leopard, a seven-eight-year-old male, had been lurking in Greater Noida for the past few days sending citizens into a tizzy and causing great panic. The animal reportedly attacked a boy, Komal Kumar, who walking down a road. The boy escaped with minor injuries.
"By the time we reached the spot, a crowd had gathered and we had to take help from the police to control it. Wildlife SOS team was also called," Pramod Srivastava, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Gautam Buddh Nagar, said.
The animal was moved to the Surajpur forest nursery and will be released in the Shivalik forest in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur on Monday.
Before it was caught, the leopard injured a villager after it jumped across the boundary wall of a lentil field. Fortunately, the veterinarian from Delhi Zoo managed to tranquilise the big cat after which it was taken to the Surajpur Nursery, a forest ranger who was part of the rescue operation told the Indian Express. It is being assumed that this was the same animal which was spotted near the Stellar Jeevan society in Greater Noida on Wednesday night. Chief Conservator of Forests, Lalit Verma said that the leopard may have travelled across the Hindon river chasing an animal when it reached the residential area. He added that the big cat has been given a fitness certificate since it has no injury marks or internal bruises.
