LUCKNOW: Panic prevailed in Gudamba and adjoining areas after a leopard was spotted moving through the bylanes of a residential locality in Lucknow on Saturday evening. A team of forest department was rushed to the spot to trap the feline, who had apparently strayed into the city area from the jungles in the adjoining Barabanki district.
The movement of the leopard was caught in the CCTV cameras installed in residential localities in Gudamba area of the city. Informed by the locals, police teams reached the spot and roped in officials from the forest department. At least half a dozen teams have been stationed in Adilnagar, Kalyanpur and Paharpur localities in Gudumba area.
Though the forest officials conducted an extensive combing operation in and around the regions where the leopard has been spotted in the CCTV footage but have failed to trap the feline.
According to the police, around 4 am, on Saturday, a local spotted the feline near Kursi Road and fled home. He later told his neighbours about it and then informed the police on UP 112. Additional deputy commissioner of police, North Zone, Prachi Singh said police were on the lookout for the leopard along with the forest officials and have been directed to cordon off the area in case it is spotted in the city areas.
District Forest Officer (DFO) Lucknow Ravi Kumar, who also reached the spot to supervise the operations, told TOI that forest team had also put baits to trap the feline. "It seems that the three-year-old leopard strayed from Barabanki. We are trying to trap it and later release it in the wild,” he said.
