Bhubaneswar: After playing hide and seek for two days in a busy locality here, the stray and elusive leopard was finally caught by the forest staff from the airport area late on Tuesday and shifted to Nandankanan Zoological Park, on the outskirts of the city, before being released into the wild of Chandaka Sanctuary.
“The big cat was released in Chandaka Sanctuary after the veterinary doctors checked its health condition,” Bhubaneswar City DFO, Ashok Mishra, told mediapersons here.
The DFO said that the leopard was released into the wild, adhering to the standard operating procedure (SOP) as per the guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). “The NTCA guideline says that if any wild animal strays into human settlements in the urban locality, it has to be released into the wild,” he said.
The health of the leopard is absolutely fine, he added.
The sly and hungry big cat finally came out of the hideout late in the night and entered a trap placed near the cargo gate of the airport, to eat the hen but got trapped inside as it tried to pull its prey.
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The Forest staff later took the leopard to Nandankanan and released it inside an enclosure.
The forest staff of Chandaka Wildlife Division, Bhubaneswar Forest Division, a tranquillizing team of Nandankanan and a veterinary team were engaged in the mission to capture the leopard.
