Leopard enters house in UP's Meerut, captured after 8-hour operation

Meerut (UP): A forest department team tranquilised and caught a leopard from a house here on Saturday following an eight-hour operation, officials said.

According to Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rajesh Kumar, the department got information that a leopard had entered a house in Kaserukheda locality in the city's Cantonment area around 10 am.

On receiving the information, police and forest department teams reached the house that was located in a densely-populated area. A rescue operation was launched and the leopard was finally tranquilised and caught around 6:30 pm, the DFO said.

The leopard, which is a male and aged around four years, had entered the house of one Sameer living in the area.

At that time, Sameer's two children -- Manku (8) and Veera (10) -- and his mother-in-law were present in one of the rooms of the house. They immediately locked the room on sighting the leopard, which then sat just outside the room, according to locals.

Giving details about the operation, the DFO said that the house was covered with nets from all sides and a wall was broken to safely rescue the family trapped in the house. After evacuating the family members, the team tranquilised the leopard.

Asked about reports of the leopard attacking a person in the area, the DFO said, "One person is said to be injured in the incident in the morning, we are trying to find out about him."

The DFO said that the leopard, which is completely healthy, will be released in the Shivalik range.