Leopard caught from Navsari town

Surat: A five-year-old male leopard ventured into Lunsikui area of Navsari town from nearby forest on Saturday morning. This was first incident in a long time when a big cat had entered the residential area of Navsari and injured a man trying to catch it along with volunteers. Forest officials said the leopard could have been attracted to the town due to the smell emanating from poultry farms.
Local people said the leopard had entered the town at around 8am and hid itself in a closed warehouse behind Parsi sanatorium. Forest officials along with some volunteers went to catch the leopard, but one of them was attacked by the big cat. The leopard managed to flee to one of the buildings in police lines at Lunsikui.
A forest officer said, “We shot the leopard with two tranquillizer darts.”
Witnesses saw the leopard trying to jump from the first floor lobby of police lines building but could not. It fled into an apartment and hid there from where it was caught by forest officials at around 8pm.
ML Meena, deputy conservator of forest, Navsari, said, “The leopard entered the town probably because of the smell of the food. We are happy that we are able to catch it.”
Local residents say they could feel the presence of the leopard for about a week.