From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: A full-grown leopard who had strayed out of its disturbed habitat atop Nabagraha hills in Assam capital city in Guwahati was captured using a tranquiliser by a team of forest and veterinary doctors after a three hours long efforts in Silphukhuri area in the heart of the city on Saturday.
The leopard had injured three persons and also sustained minor injuries when panic-stricken people tried to scare it away by throwing stones at it. The animal was first spotted inside a residential campus in the thickly-populated area at around 11.30 am on Saturday.
“It is an adult male leopard aged between eight to ten years. It is now being kept under observation of doctors in Assam State Zoo in Guwahati after its capture in a thickly populated area in the city,” the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the State Zoo, Utpal Bora, said.
At least three persons were injured when the panic-stricken leopard counter-attacked in self-defence during the three-hour long efforts to capture it.
A team of veterinarians and wildlife rescue personnel from the State Zoo finally managed to tranquilise it after the animal had taken shelter inside a room in a household to save itself from the crowd.
Guwahati is only city in the country that has the highest number of wildlife species including several highly endangered ones listed in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Act in forest areas in its outskirts and hills within the city. On Saturday, the leopard had come down from Nabagraha hills within the city.
Zoologists of the state claim that there are at least 40 species of mammals including tiger, leopard and elephants in the 12 reserved forests, two wildlife sanctuaries and a Ramsar Site in and around Guwahati city. No other city in the world probably has such a rich diversity of wildlife.
At least 20 leopards including several cubs have been killed in the city in the past two decades. The 216-sq km Assam’s capital city on paper has about 26.42 sq km area marked as reserved forests which have been vastly encroached upon, according to information received from the forest department.
In addition to encroachment of hill areas within the city, there have been rampant illegal earth cutting and tree-felling in and around the city despite a number if laws being in force to prevent these illegal activities.
