Amid lockdown, Forest Department officials rescued a leopard which had fallen into an open well on a farmland at Thumbe village on the outskirts of the city on Monday.

Range Forest Officer, Bantwal and Mangaluru, P. Sridhar, said that the beast was found in the well on the farmland of Monappa at Maji at about 9 a.m. It must have come in search of food and fallen accidentally and could not come out. There were complaints from the people in the village earlier that a leopard had taken away some domestic dogs. It could be this animal.

The three-year-old male leopard was rescued from the 10-ft.-deep well which had about four ft. water. Later, it was released in the Western Ghats as it had not sustained any injury.

Local people also joined in the rescue operation.

Caught

In Hassan district, Forest Department officials caught a two-year-old male leopard at Kembalu village in Channarayapatna taluk on Monday morning.

Residents of the village noticed the animal trapped in a cage kept by the department and informed the officials. The department had placed the cage after the residents complained of the animal’s movement around the village.

Deputy Conservator of Forests Sivaram Babu told The Hindu that the animal had been shifted to Gulasinda Park in Channarayapatna. It would be released in a forest area later.