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Leopard sighting in Jaipur’s Vidhyadhar Nagar sets off panic

Arvind Mathur from Nahargarh Biological Park, who was leading the rescue operation, told the media that the presence of the public made the capture difficult.

The leopard was first spotted at the CPWD guest house in Vidhyadhar Nagar at 1 pm. (Express)

A 3-year-old leopard that ventured into a residential area in Jaipur Saturday afternoon attacked two people, causing panic and prompting a manhunt for the animal.

The leopard was first spotted at the CPWD guest house in Vidhyadhar Nagar at 1 pm, with residents alerting the forest department of its presence. It took over a dozen officials more than three hours to tranquilize the animal, officials said.

By that time, it had already caused panic in the area.

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Arvind Mathur from Nahargarh Biological Park, who was leading the rescue operation, told the media that the presence of the public made the capture difficult.

“Whenever the leopard ventures out of the wild, they become shy and try to find a safe spot. It has become difficult to tranquilize the leopard in the public presence because it makes the leopard more anxious,” he said.

DCF (Deputy Conservator of Forest) Jagdish Gupta said the leopard had been moved to the Nahargarh Biological Park and will be released in the wild.

Jaipur is close to Jhalana and Amagarh leopard reserves and there are estimated to be over 60 leopards in the area/ As a result, leopard sightings are not uncommon in Jaipur’s residential areas.

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The development comes at a time when eight people were killed in leopard attacks in Rajasthan’s Udaipur causing terror in the area. Four leopards were captured in the ensuing hunt for man-eaters.

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Jaipur
leopard