The DCF said he was not sure if the leopard rescued on Thursday was the same as one captured in February. (Representational)

Days after residents of Manharpur village on city’s northern outskirts complained of a leopard entering their village, the forest department rescued the animal from near Aji dam-II on Thursday. This is the second leopard captured from the city’s outskirts in the past four months.

“We placed trap cages near Aji Dam-II near Gavaridad village. At around 2 am on Thursday, we trapped the animal,” said Parasotam Shiyani, deputy conservator of forests (DCF) of Rajkot social forestry division.

Shiyani said that the male leopard was around six to seven year of age. He said that after reports of leopard presence in Manharpur and neighbouring Para Pipaliya village around 15 days ago, trap cages were placed in Parapipaliya where the carnivore had preyed on a calf. “But its movement shifted towards Gavaridad village and we also shifted the cages to that area,” he said.

This is second leopard to be captured from the city’s outskirts. In February this year, a leopard managed to scale the perimeter wall of Rajkot Zoological Park and preyed on a hog dear. The animal, a male leopard around six to seven years of age, was captured on February 24.

The DCF said he was not sure if the leopard rescued on Thursday was the same as one captured in February. “Usually, once a leopard is rescued from the wild, we tag it with a microchip as an identification mark and Sakkarbaug Zoo in Junagadh keeps record of such tags. The leopard captured on Thursday didn’t carry any microchip,” said Shiyani.

The captured animal to Sakkarbaug Zoo, added the DCF.