Forest depart rescues leopard stuck in cement pipe

NT Correspondent

Mysuru:  In a day-long rescue operation, forest department personnel and Leopard Task Force staff rescued two leopards including a female cub which is four months old, that were trapped in a cement pipe at Hale Ramanahalli in Yelwal hobli of Mysuru taluk on Monday.

The leopards, which had strayed out of the forest in search of food took shelter in the pipe of 300 meters length and 1.5 meters wide when locals spotted the wild cats.

Upon receiving information, both department personnel and Leopard Task force staff rushed to the village, rescued the five year old female leopard and her four month leopard cub by placing a cage.

They captured the wild cats by tranquilising them and later released them into the forest after conducting micro chipping and ear notching as per procedure, according to deputy conservator Basavaraju M. Mysuru Range Forest Officer Surendra who led the operation said that his department personnel had captured another leopard in the same cement pipe last year and released it into the forest.

As farmers often bring their sheep, goats and cattle to graze in nearby agriculture fields, leopards visit the fields looking for prey in the area. A leopard had attacked two goats two days ago in the same area, he said.

Surendra also said that the leopards were in the area looking for prey. “It was a female leopard and her cub.

A leopard had attacked sheep in the area two days ago. They might have entered the area looking for prey,” he told the media.