Pet dog survives after being locked up in toilet with leopard for 12 hours in Karnataka

MANGALURU: A 12-hour operation launched to capture a leopard that was giving sleepless nights to people in Subramanya and surrounding villages in Sullia taluk of Dakshina Kannada turned futile on Wednesday as the big cat escaped. But there was a silver lining. A pet dog that had been locked up with the leopard in a toilet was unharmed during the ordeal.

The leopard managed to give the slip to forest department staff and escaped from a small gap in the toilet roof which was opened to fire a dart at it.

Sources said people from the affected villages breathed a sigh of relief when the leopard ended up in the toilet of a woman identified as Janaki while chasing her pet dog at around 3 am. The occupants of the house, who were alerted by the barking dog, locked the toilet with the dog and leopard inside before calling the forest department.

The forest department staff who arrived at the spot chalked out a plan to rescue the leopard. They decided to tranquilize the big cat and summoned the required gun and darts.

However, the absence of an expert tranquilizer to carry out the task delayed the process. At around 3 pm, hearing the sound of a earthmoving machine that was brought to the spot for the rescue operation, the leopard panicked and escaped from the gap in the roof.

Villagers gathered at the spot expressed displeasure over the failure of forest officials to catch the big cat. They blamed lack of planning and execution. The leopard was mauling cattle and dogs in several villages for the last one year and could not be trapped despite several attempts by the forest department.