Leopard strays into laboratory of Junagadh Agricultural University, rescued

The university immediately informed local forest officers. “Our rescue team rushed to the JAU laboratory, tranquilised the leopard and rescued it, It was a male sub-adult, approximately one year old,” Akshay Joshi, Deputy Conservator of Forests of Junagadh territorial forest division, said.

He added that leopards and lions often stray on the roads of Junagadh city. “The city is located right on the border of Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary, which is home to lions and leopards. At some points, the distance between the sanctuary border and residential premises is zero and lions and leopards often stray on city roads. However, they rarely enter residential premises.”

A leopard strayed into a laboratory of Gujarat’s Junagadh Agricultural Universityhttps://t.co/L3xvJmgxgk pic.twitter.com/pR7uoeF6PK

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This is the second incident in aroud seven years of a leopard straying on the state-run JAU campus, which has lots of trees and research farms. “In 2017, an adult leopard had strayed on our campus and injured one of our security guards. But this time round, no one was injured,” Prof Chovatia said.

“There is a small opening between the grill of the gate of the renewable energy laboratory and the leopard could have entered through that. It is also possible the leopard could have sneaked in after sweepers opened the doors of the laboratory for cleaning purposes and left the doors open for students,” he added.

The V-C added that the university sensitises students about possible movement of wild carnivores on the campus. “Students from across the country come to JAU and not everyone might be aware that our campus is near the border of a sanctuary. Therefore, during week-long orientation sessions for new students, our faculty members sensitise them about the presence of lions and leopards in the Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary and the possibility of these wild animals straying on our campus,” said Prof Chovatia.

“The students who encountered the leopard on Friday morning also had gone through such orientation programme and that is the reason, instead of panicking, they managed to shut the door and confine the leopard,” he added.