Miscellaneous
Leopard rescued after it strays into a house
A leopard was rescued from a private residential house in Panga area in Kirtipur municipality on Wednesday afternoon.A leopard was rescued from a private residential house in Panga area in Kirtipur municipality on Wednesday afternoon.
A rescue team comprising staff from the Central Zoo, District Forest Office Kathmandu and security personnel rescued the leopard that was reported to be hiding under the stairs on the ground floor of the house belonging to Krishna Maharjan.
“I was informed by police that a leopard had been sighted in a house in Kirtipur and was asked to rescue the animal,” said Radha Krishna Gharti, a senior veterinary technician at the zoo.
It took them almost five hours to dart the leopard and take it under control. The female leopard was then taken to the zoo, the only refuge for the orphaned, injured and rescued wildlife in the country.
This is the first leopard sighting in a human settlement inside the Valley this year. But the instances of leopard sightings on the outskirts of and inside the Valley are increasing in the recent time.
Last year, three similar incidents of leopard straying into human settlements inside the Valley were reported. In one instance, a female leopard had given birth to three cubs inside a house belonging to Lalit Jung Thapa in Sirutar-8 in Bhaktapur district. One of the cubs died before being rescued, while the other two died at the zoo. The mother leopard has since been relocated to a forest in Parsa district.
“As the leopard sightings gets more frequent, the zoo and the rescue team are facing problems in rescuing the animals and ensuring proper treatment and refuge facility in the lack of trained human resources and space inside the zoo,” Gharti said.
“We lack a proper rescue centre to provide care for the rescued animals, and release them to the proper habitat later.” The zoo authorities are planning to relocate this female leopard also to Parsa.