Leopard on loose strikes panic in Jaipur's Civil Lines area; rescued by forest team

Panic spread in the high-security Civil Lines area here on Thursday after a leopard was spotted moving through the locality and even entered the compounds of a school and the official bungalow of a Rajasthan minister.After hours of effort, the forest department tranquilised and rescued the big cat, Chief Wildlife Warden Shikha Mehra said.

Panic spread in the high-security Civil Lines area here on Thursday after a leopard was spotted moving through the locality and even entered the compounds of a school and the official bungalow of a Rajasthan minister.

After hours of effort, the forest department tranquilised and rescued the big cat, Chief Wildlife Warden Shikha Mehra said. ''There was no loss of life. I personally remained on the scene and supervised the entire operation. If such incidents occur in future, the forest department team should be immediately informed. Additionally, people should remain vigilant and minimise their movements to prevent harm to wildlife,'' Mehra said. The wild cat was first sighted entering the Tiny Blossom Senior Secondary School, prompting the school staff to close the classroom doors to keep the students safe. Later, it allegedly entered state Water Resources Minister Suresh Singh Rawat's official residence, located opposite the bungalow of Congress leader Sachin Pilot.

The Civil Lines area also houses the Raj Bhavan, the chief minister's residence, and the official quarters of top ministers and bureaucrats.

Following the incident, former minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said in an X post, ''A leopard entered Civil Lines in Jaipur today to wake up the sleeping government of Rajasthan. The people of Rajasthan are in distress: there is no one to take care of them, and animals in the jungle are (also) hungry. The Rajasthan government has completely failed to protect them.'' ''Finally a leopard came behind the residence of Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma. Now wake up, Rajasthan government,'' he wrote.

The forest department officials claim that the number of big cats in the Jhalana Leopard Reserve has risen in last few years and hence, they venture into urban spaces. However, environmentalists say that it is the shrinking buffer zones and food sources that are forcing the wild cats to stray into human settlements.

Some of these localities are barely 50 metres from the reserve. Earlier too, leopards have entered Jhalana from the nearby forest reserve, which the forest department has opened for safari.

''With shrinking buffer zones and unchecked construction in the area, animals are straying into human spaces. We need to increase the prey base in the forest, if not, similar incidents are likely to reoccur, posing a risk for both the wildlife and the residents,'' said Pawan Kumar Sharma, an advocate and an environmentalist.

Four incidences of leopards straying into city areas have been reported in last one month. The latest incident was reported in Gurjar ki Ghati, where a group of people severely beat a female leopard to death. The entire incident was captured on a CCTV camera.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)