The leopard sighted in the Bagh-e-Mehtab area of Srinagar on 29 December has been captured by the Wildlife Department after five days. Officials of the wildlife department tracked down the leopard in an abandoned house.
The wildlife department team has been on the ground since the day it was spotted and now has been successful in locating and tranquilizing the leopard in the same area, the Wildlife Warden, Srinagar, Altaf Hussain told a local newspaper, The Kashmir Monitor.
“The animal had taken refuge in the lawn of an abandoned house. It was a difficult operation since the area where the leopard was first sighted is a huge one. But thankfully we were able to find and capture and tranquilize the animal,” he told the newspaper.
The leopard had cause panic in the area. Videos of the leopard jumping over walls in residential areas and being chased by local residents went viral on social media. Earlier, rescue teams of the wildlife department had successfully hit the leopard with tranquillizer darts but failed to sedate the animal.
Wildlife officials blamed the local mobs for driving the animal into aggression which prevented the tranquilizer from taking effect.
