Gonda (Chhattisgarh): A leopard roaming nearby the residence of the District Magistrate in Chhattisgarh's Gonda was successfully captured by forest department personnel on Tuesday. The big cat, reported to have been staying in a forest stretch of several hectares near the DM's residence, was earlier seen jumping inside the property in CCTV footage on multiple occasions, said a forest official.
Repeated attempts to trap the leopard remained unsuccessful for more than three months. "Many teams of the department have been continuously patrolling the area. Nine range teams have been summoned till now. Two experts were called last month from Bareilly and Katarnia Ghat in Uttar Pradesh. But, it (leopard) did not come in sight," said Divisional Forest Officer Raj Kumar Tripathi.
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Revealing developments that led to the capture, Tripathi said the bursting of firecrackers caused the animal to take shelter in the area near the District Magistrate's residence. "Four cages had already been installed by the forest department. It was surrounded after it entered the area, and then ran inside one of them," he added.
