By IANS,
Raipur: People in Fafadih Market, one of the busiest areas of this Chhattisgarh capital, were shocked Thursday when a leopard strolled into the area. The forest officials were able to tranquilize and trap the animal only after an eight-hour effort.
The animal created panic when it entered a timber market in the area. Forest department officials and police personnel reached the market immediately and struggled for hours, in presence of Forest Minister Vikram Usendi, to catch the leopard which moved from one shop to another.
“It was a horrible experience for us. We never thought to chase a leopard in a busy Raipur market. The leopard was caged after almost eight hours of effort and that too after we used the tranquilizer gun,” Anil Soni, divisional forest officer, told IANS.
He said that forest official K.S. Tiwari was seriously injured by the leopard when his team tried to trap it.
After being tranquilized, the leopard was taken to Nandan Van zoo on outskirts of Raipur where veterinary doctors were treating it. The doctors said the leopard was out of danger but needed to be kept under observations till it gets over the tranquilization effect.
Forest officials are probing how the leopard came into a busy market though they blame peoples’ encroachment of forested area on the outskirts of the city for the incident.