Leopard rescued from Jaipur shop after late-night operation

A leopard roaming through several populated areas of Jaipur over the last two days was finally tranquillised and rescued from a shop near the Chandpole area of Jaipur late on Thursday, officials said.

The animal was spotted hiding in a shop located in a residential building. The shopkeeper quickly pulled down the shutter, trapping the animal inside. He then informed the police and forest officials. A rescue operation began at 11 pm, and after three hours, the animal was rescued.

Officials said the animal was earlier spotted in Shastri Nagar on Thursday morning and in the Vidhyadhar Nagar area on Tuesday night.

CCTV camera footage from Wednesday showed the leopard crossing a road in Kalyan Colony and later walking across a rooftop near Sikar House, following which a rescue operation was launched.

Panic gripped locals, many of whom remained indoors. Dedicated teams of the forest department made efforts to locate the leopard but failed to trace it.

The areas where the leopard was sighted are close to the Swarn Jayanti Park, and the leopard is suspected to have entered from the Nahargarh forest zone, which is nearby.

Local residents of Vidyadhar Nagar reported that dogs had barked continuously on Tuesday night, and a calf was found dead the next morning. CCTV camera footage from the same night confirmed the leopard's presence in the locality.

Search teams also combed Shastri Nagar, Nehru Nagar and nearby areas on Wednesday.

Last week, another leopard had entered Jaipur's high-security Civil Lines area, moving inside a minister's bungalow and later a school before being tranquillised.

Jaipur has two major leopard habitats -- the Jhalana forest area and the Nahargarh forest area -- both having a sizeable leopard population.

Forest officials estimate several dozen leopards live in these zones.

Experts attribute the frequent sightings in urban areas to a combination of rising leopard numbers, shrinking prey along forest edges and rapid expansion of the city into forest fringes.

Localities adjoining forests like Malviya Nagar, Jagatpura, Vidyadhar Nagar, Shastri Nagar and Jaisinghpura have all reported increased leopard movement in recent years.

Leopards have also been spotted on the campus of the Rajasthan University, Lalkhoti area, and Smriti van -- which had to be closed for several days in the past due to repeated sightings.

"Territory pressure and easy access to stray animals often bring leopards closer to human habitation," a senior forest official said.