Uttarakhand: Leopard escapes Forest Department cage; residents of Kashipur panic

Rudrapur: An adult female leopard has broken out of a cage placed by the Uttarakhand Forest Department in Kashipur and is said to be untraceable despite their best efforts. Residents of the area are panic-stricken, reported the Times of India.

The leopard could not be found despite a three-hour-long search that also involved the use of drones. The residents of the Kaushambi Colony located at Manpur Road in Kashipur had been complaining of a leopard sighting in the nearby bushes for the past two weeks. They had sighted a leopard along with two cubs when they approached the Forest Department who placed three cages along with bait in the area, reported the Times of India.

Residents heard the roars of the leopard and found it captured in the cage on Wednesday morning and informed the Forest officials. Some even made videos of the caged leopard. However, before the forest department team could arrive on the spot the leopard broke two bars of the cage and made its escape, reported the Times of India.

Locals have alleged that the Forest Department cages were worn out and closed used vines which were not effective. Range Officer Lalit Arya said that the team took almost two hours to reach the spot as they had to plan on administering tranquiliser darts and shift the leopard to another cage in order to take it safely to a rescue center in Ranibagh, Nainital, reported the Times of India.

“The cage bars were broken from the welding points. The cages which were placed needed maintenance but due to rush hour, we had to use them, as the area where the leopard family was located is a densely populated one. The feline was stronger than we anticipated,” said Arya, as reported by the Times of India.

“It has been using the bushes in the area as a hideout. The area comes under Kashipur Municipal Corporation and we jointly conducted an operation to remove the bushes in the colony with the help of excavators on Thursday. We are trying to administer awareness programs in the area to avoid human-animal conflicts,” added Arya. The forest department is hopeful that the big cat will soon be caught, the cages have been replaced and drones have also been deployed to aid their search, reported the Times of India.