LUCKNOW A marriage on Buddheshwar highway in Lucknow’s Para space had an uninvited visitor on Wednesday evening. An 8-year-old leopard, which strayed into the wedding garden round 9pm, left company in panic, the bride and groom stranded in a automotive for hours and a forest official injured. The massive cat was caught and tranquillised after 5 hours of efforts round 2.45am and later launched into the wild. However the incident left a path of questions like – the place did the animal come from and why it entered this place.
The leopard after it was captured by forest division officers. (HT Picture)
“There’s a strong possibility that it (leopard) strayed from some nearby district’s buffer zone. This is because the city is expanding with human habitat encroaching the surrounding forests,” mentioned Sitanshu Pandey, divisional forest officer, Awadh Vary.
He mentioned there are forest pockets in Bakshi Ka Talab (BKT), and the route forward connects to Lakhimpur, therefore the opportunity of the leopard coming from Dudhwa Nationwide Park (DNP) can’t be dominated out.
Resulting from depleting forests, there are extra possibilities of wandering wild cats being seen, and on this case, the animal might be from DNP. “Travelling 25 kms in a day is nothing for a leopard. In a week, it can reach Lucknow from DNP that is around 238 km away. Getting a clear idea from where it came is a bit tricky,” mentioned Pandey.
The load of the leopard (over 70 kg) means that it was full grown and lived in a forest with ample prey base.
A tiger hall connects Lucknow to tiger habitats in Lakhimpur Kheri, Shahjahanpur, and Hardoi. The hall runs alongside the Sharda Canal. Whereas tigers have only one route in direction of Lucknow, leopards have a number of, together with Unnao-Malesemau, Dubagga through River Gomti, and round Scooters India. Digicam traps have recorded leopards as soon as every week on a mean in 2021-22, with a serious share of images from Chinhat that’s related to Malesmau through Shaheed Path.
On December 25, 2021, a leopard was rescued from densly populated Jankipuram the place it attacked a number of males whereas on November 16, 2023, a two-year outdated leopard died in a highway accident on Shaheed Path, which is near Malesmau. Earlier on February 18, 2018, a leopard was shot useless by a cop in Aurangabad Khalsa space beneath Ashiana police space, after two days of the animal’s keep within the neighborhood roaming from one lane to a different, spreading panic.
The leopard chase on Wednesday evening was inside a closed boundary of the wedding garden the place the animal had received caught on the second ground exterior the shop room. “Thermal drones confirmed the presence of the animal, following which the tranquilising teams conducted a successful operation,” mentioned Sitanshu Pandey.
The massive cat was left within the Sonaripur forest vary in DNP. The rescue staff included Chandan Chaudhary, sub-divisional forest officer, Mohanlalganj; Dr RK Singh, Dr Katiyar, and Dr Dayashankar. Up to now few years, the state capital has additionally witnessed tiger sightings. At current, a tiger is wandering in a forest in Rehmankheda since December 10 and forest officers are making efforts to rescue the wild cat.
CELEBRATION GOES ‘WILD’
*AROUND 9PM The leopard entered a wedding garden on Buddheshwar highway, creating panic amongst company who frantically began operating to save lots of their lives, eyewitnesses mentioned.
* Even the bride and groom ran off and locked themselves in a automotive, they mentioned.
* In a video purportedly of the incident, the leopard might be seen snatching an official’s weapon as he tried to overpower the animal.
* A forest division official sustained accidents in his hand whereas making an attempt to catch the leopard, police mentioned.
* AROUND 2.45AM Police and the forest division officers reached the spot. The leopard was caught and tranquillized after hours of efforts.