Pune, Mar 5 (PTI) A male leopard was captured about 40 hours after it escaped from a quarantine centre located near a zoo in Pune on Tuesday night in a multi-team operation involving at least 100 personnel and deploying thermal drone cameras, an official said.
The big cat entered one of the cages set up to trap the animal with bait at around 9:15 pm, he said.
“Officials found the leopard missing from the quarantine centre situated near the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park at around 9 am on Monday, following which an extensive search operation involving over 100 personnel from the zoo, quarantine centre, forest department, and fire department. Multiple thermal drone cameras were deployed to trace the wild animal,” the Pune civic body official said.
The leopard, born at a zoo in Karnataka, was recently brought to the zoological park in Katraj area of Pune, he added.
“Around 9:15 pm on Tuesday, the spotted animal walked into a trap cage baited with a chicken. The leopard had food on Sunday night. It entered the cage in search of food and was captured. The feline is in good health,” he said.
The leopard, aged seven-anad-a-half years, is suspected to have escaped from the quarantine facility in the early hours of Monday by bending a bar of the cage.
During the search operation, the zoo remained closed to people. PTI SPK GK NSK
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