A leopard that had been roaming around the ICRISAT research center in Patancheru, Hyderabad, for the past week has been safely captured. The Forest Department had placed several cages in the area to try and trap the animal.
Two days ago, forest officials spotted the leopard on CCTV cameras they had installed. On Wednesday night, the leopard was finally caught in one of the cages. Sridhar Rao, the District Forest Officer (DFO) of Medak, said the leopard is now being taken to Nehru Zoo Park for medical check-ups.
This is not the first time a leopard has been seen near Hyderabad. In early 2024, one was spotted on the runway at Shamshabad Airport, causing panic. The Forest Department quickly launched a search operation that lasted five days.
During the search, officials set up 25 CCTV cameras and used goat carcasses as bait. Though the leopard kept coming near the bait, it didn’t attack at first. Eventually, after five days, the leopard entered the cage to eat the goat and was successfully trapped.
