Leopard hiding inside Dehradun airport rescued

Terrified by the high decibel sound of incoming and outgoing flights, the sub-adult leopard, which had hid itself in a pipe near the new terminal building, remained cowering inside it throughout the day, Sub-Divisional Forest Officer GS Martolia said.

The animal had jumped over the boundary walls to enter the airport premises on Tuesday morning, creating a scare among the airport staff.

A young leopard that strayed into Jollygrant airport in Dehradun and a hid itself in a pipeline nearly 60-metres from the runway, was rescued by the forest staff after a 10-hour long operation Tuesday night.

According to the forest officials, it is a female leopard of age less than one year. Tuesday morning, it had jumped the over the boundary walls to enter the airport premises from adjoining forest areas and took shelter inside a concrete made pipeline of cables laid for electricity supply to lights on runway. Security staff alerted the airport authorities who informed the forest department.

According to officials, leopard will be released in to the wild after a test of its vital parameters by experts from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun.

Story continues below this ad

The forest officials had earlier planned to radio-collar the young leopard. “WII experts examined the leopard today and considering its age and body weight, it was decided to not radio-collar it,” said Rajiv Dhiman, Divisional Forest Officer, Dehradun.

The Dehradun airport is surrounded by forests of Thano and Badkot and officials are expecting that leopard had come from any of these forests.

The state government has proposed the expansion of this airport and it is proposed to take over 87 hectares of forest land in Doiwala village in Dehradun district, and another 17.41 hectares of non-forest land for the project.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Loading Taboola...

Trump announces TikTok deal, surprise China visit ‘early next year’ after call with Xi

World4 hr ago

Trump and Xi had a successful phone call, addressing trade, Fentanyl, and TikTok. They plan to meet at APEC Summit and for Trump to visit China, with Xi visiting the US. Congress wants TikTok to sell its US assets or shut down, but Trump has not enforced this due to the app's value and progress.

View all shorts

Live Blog