Maharashtra: Leopard spotted at Ellora Caves ticketing counter

AURANGABAD: A full-grown leopard was seen at the Ellora Caves, located 30km from here, at around 2am on Monday.
The big cat was roaming around the ticketing counter of the world heritage and tourist site presumably in search of prey. The staff of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) working the night shift at the caves saw the leopard before it vanished into the nearby greenery.
Monument attendant Devidas Jagtap said they were alerted to the leopard’s presence after a few dogs sleeping near the ticketing counter started barking on seeing the big cat. “It was a big leopard and the staff initially thought it to be a tiger. The forest department later confirmed it was a leopard. We checked the footage of two CCTVs at the ticketing counter in which the animal’s entry and exit before its brief stay of around one-and-half minute are visible,” he said.
ASI staffers said a leopard was spotted around one-and-a-half months ago in the mountain range that nestles the Ellora Caves. “However, this is for the first time a big cat has actually entered the premises of the caves,” Jagtap said.
Divisional forest officer (wildlife) Vijay Satpute said there was no need to panic. “The mountain range near the caves is adjacent to the Gautala-Autramghat wildlife sanctuary and it is part of the natural habitat of leopards. The animal must have strayed into the caves in search of prey such as monkeys or dogs. Such movement by leopards out of the sanctuary would happen only during the night hours, not during the day,” he added.
While the last wildlife census of 2019 put the official count of leopards at the sanctuary at 26, the number is expected to have gone up over the past two years.
Earlier, a tiger was seen a couple of kilometres away from the Ajanta Caves, another world heritage site in Aurangabad district, in January last year.