Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): Panic spread at Jabalpur’s Dumna Airport on Monday afternoon after reports surfaced that a leopard-like animal had entered the airport premises.
As soon as the information reached the Airport Authority of India officials, they immediately informed the forest department.
Watch the footage here:
A team from the forest department then rushed to the spot along with wildlife experts and launched a search operation.
The team searched through the entire airport area and nearby jungle for over an hour, however they did not find any leopard.
FP Photo
It was not a leopard!
Later on, when CCTV footage was closely examined, officials discovered that the animal seen was not a leopard but a jungle cat.
A jungle cat is a smaller wild animal that looks similar to a leopard from a distance.
Regarding the matter, airport officials said that since the airport is surrounded by forest, small wild animals occasionally enter the premises. But they pose no threat to aircraft or people, as they usually run away after hearing noise.
According the Airport manager RR Pandey, "The Dumna Airport campus is quite large and is located close to a forest area, so small wild animals often enter the premises. However, they do not pose any threat to aircraft, as they run away as soon as they hear noise. Still, a search operation is being carried out to locate the animal that entered the airport."
Forest officials, along with wildlife experts, confirmed the same and declared the leopard sighting a false alarm.
