Panic grips residents after leopard strays into village barely 200m from NDA gate in Pune

PUNE: A leopard was tranquilised and trapped on Monday morning in the Navin Ahire village near Warje, barely 200 metres from the National Defence Academy's (NDA) Uttamnagar gate. This is the fourth leopard-related incident in Pune district in just the last six days.
Monday's operation, carried out by a team of forest officials and volunteers of the NGO RESQ, lasted for nearly four hours after the animal was first sighted around 6.30am. Rescuers cornered the male leopard in a tin shed located close to a housing society in Navin Ahire. Forest officials said the big cat was two years old and healthy.
Among recent incidents, on March 14, a leopard had killed and dragged away a pet dog from the verandah of a house in a village near the Hinjewadi IT Park. On the night of March 17, a 19-year-old junior college student was killed by a leopard in a village in Khed tehsil; the very next night, on March 18, a pregnant woman, returning home with her husband on a motorcycle, was injured in a leopard attack at Chandoli in Ambegaon tehsil, off the Pune-Nashik highway.
On Monday, Navin Ahire residents spotted the leopard near a housing society and informed forest officials. Panic reigned among society residents, as well as people from adjoining localities, after a video clip of the leopard was circulated on a cellphone messaging app.
Satish Wanjale, a resident, said, “My tenant Rahul Kadam, who was washing his car, called me to say he had spotted the animal. I checked CCTV footage and saw it too.” Kadam, who saw it from close range, said, “The leopard could have attacked me if I had moved even a few metres.” Forest officials took the help of the police to control the crowd and carry out their rescue operation with volunteers. Pune’s range forest officer, Pradip Sankpal, said, “We laid a net to cover the shed and a member of the RESQ team shot a tranquiliser dart from 10feet away to sedate the animal. We secured the leopard and took it to a rescue centre in Bavdhan to keep under observation.” RESQ founder-president Neha Panchamiya said, “The animal displays no extra-aggressive behaviour. He may have been hunting for prey.”