A 3-year-old leopard entered a residential area in Jaipur on Saturday afternoon, attacking two people and causing panic and a search for the animal began.
The leopard was first spotted at the CPWD guest house in Vidyadhar Nagar around 1 pm, after residents alerted the forest department about its presence. It took a dozen officers more than three hours to calm the animal, officials said.
By that time it had created terror in the area.
Arvind Mathur of Nahargarh Biological Park, who is leading the rescue operation, told the media that the presence of the general public made the arrest difficult.
“When leopards come out of the forest, they become shy and try to find a safe place. It has become difficult to calm down the leopard in the presence of people because it has made the leopard anxious,’ he said.
DCF (Deputy Conservator of Forests) Jagdish Gupta said the leopard has been shifted to Nahargarh Biological Park and will be released in the wild.
Jaipur is close to the Jhalana and Amgarh Leopard Reserves and there are estimated to be more than 60 leopards in the area/ consequently, it is not uncommon to see leopards in Jaipur’s residential areas.
When eight people were killed in a leopard attack in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, there was panic in the region. Four leopards have been arrested during the search for man-eaters.