Leopard strays into girls' hostel in Guwahati

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Panic prevailed among the residents of the Hengerabari area in Guwahati after a leopard strayed into a girls' hostel on Monday morning.

The leopard was stuck under a sofa inside the Milestone Girls' Hostel's ground floor where the owner lives. The owner of the hostel said, as seen in the CCTV footage, it must have entered the premises in the wee hours.

"I was the first to see it. I mistook it for a piece of cloth and almost grabbed its tail before realizing what it is. We locked ourselves in and immediately informed the Forest Department," said the owner.

According to reports, it took the forest officials and police more than three hours to tranquilize the animal.

After tranquilizing, the forest officials sent the animal to the Assam State Zoo. Tejas Mariswamy, the divisional forest officer of Assam State Zoo said, "Since the animal is sedated, it will be kept in the zoo till it wakes up. We will check if it has sustained any injuries. A microchip will be inserted into the animal and it will be released in a forest later."

In this regard, Assam Minister of Excise, Forest and Environment Parimal Suklabaidya took to twitter handle and wrote, "Another successful operation today as we safely rescued an Indian leopard which took shelter in a hostel in Hengrabari, Guwahati. The success can be attributed to the timely intervention of our Assam State Zoo, Wildlife Division & Territorial Division staff & police team."

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