Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): People of Gufa Mandir area, who have been living in fear for the past two weeks, heaved a sigh of relief when the wandering leopard was finally caught on Monday.
When the forest department personnel got the information that the leopard was last seen in the Sultania Infantry premises, they placed two cages with bait and trapped the fully grown cat.
Later, the captured leopard was taken to Van Vihar National Park. It was also found that the animal had injured its face by hitting against the cage bars.
District Forest Officer Alok Pathak told Free Press that about fifteen days back, Army jawans had spotted the leopard at Sultania Infantry Campus. On getting information of leopard’s presence, two cages with baits were placed there.
On Monday, the wandering big cat got lured to the bait and entered the cage only to get trapped. After getting caught, it showed its aggressive behavior and in a bid to escape, it also suffered injuries on its face. Later, the captured animal was shifted to Van Vihar National Park.
It will be kept there for a few days and once it recovers from injuries, it will be taken to deep forest for release.
A senior forest officer told Free Press that some people even spotted it in May near Dronachal Army base. But no clear pug marks were found. At that time also the forest officials had placed cages but to no avail.
To ensure that the leopard should get attracted towards the bait put inside the cage, forest officials removed the prey base present inside the Sultania infantry jungle area and this idea worked.
 (1).jpg)