Leopard enters house near Bengaluru, caught after nine hours

A leopard strayed into a residential area and holed itself up in a house in Tumukuru on Saturday, sending two women inmates, forest and police officials, and the neighbours into a tizzy before being trapped. The women, who locked themselves in a bathroom to escape from the wild animal, were rescued some time later, while the leopard was tranquillised and caught by forest officials after a nine-hour long operation, Forest department sources said. The leopard, straying from a nearby forest area, entered the house of one Ranganathan at Jayanagar area around 9 am when the man’s mother and wife were alone inside. The terrified women rushed for their safety and locked themselves up in a bathroom. The screaming women then alerted the neighbours, who informed the police. Police who arrived with forest officials rescued the women by breaking the wall of the bathroom. It took about nine hours to locate the leopard, which was hiding in the kitchen behind utensils, the sources said. At one point, the forest officials even concluded that there was no leopard in the house and the women raised a false alarm. However, the CCTV footages from the nearby houses showed leopard leaping into the house, following which the search was intensified. At about 6 pm, the forest officials located the big cat hiding in the kitchen and caught it after tranquillising it. Forest officials said they will shift the leopard to Bannerghatta Biological Park near here. Recalling the horror, Vinutha said she had been constantly praying that the leopard leaves the house. She said she would not go to the house immediately and would take some time to settle down. Source: Hindustan Times