Valley
Leopard on the loose, panic grips residents in Kuleshwor
A residential house in Kuleshwor height on Wednesday morning was struggling to attend to an uninvited guest—a leopard.A residential house in Kuleshwor height on Wednesday morning was struggling to attend to an uninvited guest—a leopard.
The wild cat, believed to have strayed away from jungle around the Capital, unleashed terror among locals the entire morning.
According to police, locals had first informed them about leopard sighting in Kuleshwor at around 7am.
It took nearly five hours to a technical team from the Central Zoo, Jawalakhel, along with authorities from the District Forest Office, Kathmandu and police personnel, to take the leopard under control.
The male leopard, believed to be six or seven years old, was later released into the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park on the northern fringe of Kathmandu Valley.
Before its release, it was taken to the zoo for minor treatment.
This is the third leopard sighting this year.
On January 22, a male leopard had entered a house in Kirtipur and injured a person. Before that, another leopard was found prowling through New Baneshwor on January 9.
The authorities on Wednesday collared the leopard before releasing it into the jungle. According to officials at the District Forest Office, Kathmandu, leopards have been coming out of their habitats and entering city areas in search of food. “Habitat fragmentation due to expansion of human settlements near forest areas compounded with depletion of prey species in the wild habitats due to wildfires and other causes might have forced these big cats to come out of their habitats in search of food,” Indra Prasad Sapkota, district forest officer at District Forest Office, Kathmandu, said.