Leopard that wasn’t spotted

(The first "sighting" occurred in the CSIO complex on Saturday last and on Sunday a man in Sector 43 called in to say he had seen the beast.) But if a leopard was indeed enjoying the stimulating atmosphere of the prestigious laboratory, it did not wait around for the search party. In short, although the Forest Department staff spent the better part of Tuesday beating the bushes, the leopard was not spotted.

Among the cat-chasers was Chhat Bir Zoo acting Director Vinod Sharma, who declared chances of a leopard straying into the campus "slim … but then many people including forest workers say they saw one." Punjab Chief Wildlife Warden Gurmeet Singh also reached the spot. According to UT deputy Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden H. S. Sohal: "This seems to be a panic reaction of the recent leopard incident in Panchkula. The possibility of a big cat coming right into the heart of the city is remote." On the other hand, it is a fact that all stray dogs on the CSIO campus have vanished overnight.

Personnel of the Forest and Wildlife Departments of the UT and Punjab accompanied by police cordoned off the area around 11 am and combed the campus for pugmarks. A few tracks were seen but the animal that had made the tracks could not be positively identified. It was also said the tracks were made by a neelgai.

Around 10.45 am, a couple of nervous Forest Department workers came hotfooting it out of the shrubbery on the northern side of the campus claiming to have seen "something that might have been a leopard". Some CSIO students said they saw a leopard-like thing yesterday around 8.30 pm. Around 2 pm today, the party, armed with tranquilizer guns, swords, axes and lathis, and doing their best to move quietly, entered the wooded portion of the campus. However, the 20-minute hunt yielded nothing but a bountiful harvest of cockleburrs.

The next procedure was a haaqa, or flushing operation. Two men went round the jungle beating a peepa with officials and police "covering" them with cocked rifles just in case. Still no leopard.

Guards of the UT Forest Department will remain on night vigil at the CSIO for the next several days and an attempt has been made to get the leopard’s "fingerprints" by spreading sand around the small puddles where it might stop to drink. People have been advised to exercise caution but not panic.To quote Ogden Nash: "if called by a panther … don’t anther."