A leopard on the prowl preyed on a calf at the Vidhyadhar Nagar colony here on Tuesday night. The carnivore had sneaked into Sector 10 of the densely populated colony from the Beed Papad-Nahargarh leopard reserve, situated on the outskirts of the Pink City.
Soon after hunting the calf, the big cat fled the spot without being noticed by locals, official sources said.
Later on Wednesday morning, the residents of the locality came to know about the incident when fresh and distinct pug marks were found around the spot. On being informed of the incident this morning, the Forest and Wildlife sleuths rushed to the location and launched a search and rescue exercise. However, the animal remained untraced so far.
Leopards have been frequently straying into well-populated urban localities like the Civil Lines, Malviya Nagar, and Durgapura. So much so that it has become a matter of grave concern for the people living in these localities as well as the wildlife authorities.
On Thursday last, a leopard from the Jhalana forests unleashed terror in Civil Lines for more than two-and-a-half hours running from one bungalow to another before being tranquilised by the forest rescuers. It had walked several kilometres down along the railway tracks from Jhalana to Civil Lines. On being noticed, the predator raced into the official residence of the Water Resources Minister Suresh Singh Rawat and some other bungalows and a school.
Recently, a big cat had strayed into the posh locality of Durgapura about 20 days back. The animal was caught by the camera outside several houses, including the residence of former Lok Sabha MP Ram Charan Bohra.
About a fortnight ago, a local mob beat up and pushed back a female leopard into the jungle in the Gujjar Ki Ghati in the vicinity of the Jal Mahal. The animal – a full grown female – was later found dead on the fringe of the Nahargarh jungle.