Leopard Spotted Near Bhubaneswar Airport

Bhubaneswar: There was panic in the Odisha capital on Monday after a leopard was reportedly spotted at Palaspalli here the previous night.

The leopard’s movements were captured on CCTV cameras. It was trying to scale a boundary wall near the airport and enter the campus of a business establishment at around 11 pm. A local, Bankanidhi Senapati, claimed that he had seen the leopard.

To capture the straying big cat, a 25-member special team of the Forest Department led by the ranger and another team of Forest staff from Chandaka Wildlife Division arrived in Palaspalli on Monday afternoon.

“We have asked the locals not to panic and stay indoors. It is most likely that the leopard strayed into the human habitation from Chandaka Sanctuary. We are trying to locate the leopard. Once it is found, we will tranquillize it and shift it to a safer place. We are hopeful of catching the leopard at the earliest,” Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Chandaka Wildlife Division, Kedarnath Swain told the media here.

City DFO, Ashok Mishra said that a tranquillizing team from Nandankanan is on the way to Palaspalli.