life in Meerut came to a standstill on Monday after six people were injured by a leopard that had crept into the city late on Sunday night. A curfew-like situation prevailed in the entire city as markets, shops, schools, colleges and other institutions were closed and residents remained indoors throughout the day for fear of their lives.
District authorities formed ten teams to search for the leopard and hoped to nab it by Monday night. A day long search on Monday revealed a one-and-a-half minute footage of the leopard caught by the CCTV cameras of a shopping complex at 3.30 am. As the leopard was first seen in Begumpet and its surrounding areas, famous markets like Abu lane, lal Kurti, Sadar Bazar, Begum Bridge and West End Road where majority of the schools are located remained closed as the district administration had ordered these institutions to shut down till further notice. Meerut Cantonment also wore a deserted look as the leopard had been sighted in this area on Sunday night.
Chief Conservator of Forests (West UP) SK Rastogi told The Pioneer: “The district administration asked us to nab the animal. However, the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) team was busy trying to catch another leopard in Bijnore so it took them a few hours to reach Meerut. By the time they reached Meerut at 5.00 pm the leopard was trapped in a room in the Cantonment Hospital near Begum Bridge area. As WTI members tried to shoot the leopard with tranquilizer guns from the window, a media person clicked a photo and the ill-timed camera flash scared the already terrified animal. It smashed the brick wall near the window and escaped. We have not seen the leopard since then and all precautionary measures are being taken for the safety of the people.” He said wild animals are capable of covering long distances in search of food and the leopard might have come to Meerut following the course of a dried up seasonal river.
“leopards eat dogs, cats, rabbits which are easily available in the sugarcane fields near Meerut. Teams from the WTI, Army and police are trying to nab the big cat and take it to safety,” he added. Shushant Sharma, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Meerut District, said the Forest Department along with the police and the Army was scouring the length and breadth of the district and hopefully the animal would be trapped at night.
Ten teams of the district administration and Forest Department armed with tranquilizer guns and other articles are on their toes trying to catch the leopard. “We have also urged residents to inform us if they find the animal roaming in their area,” Sharma said. Sharma said the first reports of the leopard were received on Sunday from a timber godown where it had hidden itself.
“When a worker entered the basement the leopard attacked him and then moved to the Army hospital where attempts to tranquilize it failed because of the agitated crowds that had gathered there. “The leopard was hit by two darts but doctors feel that the tranquilizing medicine failed to take effect as the animal was extremely agitated because of the crowds. It injured one person who was trying to peep into the room where it was cornered and attacked an SO and one onlooker and a journalist before escaping.
“The leopard escaped from the Army hospital at around 2 am and we searched for it till nine am. The last news we have of it is through a footage that we procured from a shopping complex where the CCTV’s have recorded at 3:30 am. The leopard is either hiding or has left through the dried riverbed through which it had reached the city,” Sharma said.