5 months ago
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A antheral big leopard that had been intermittently moving wrong the Pune Airport premises since precocious April has been darted and captured safely, wood officials said connected Friday (December 12, 2025).
“The feline was captured pursuing a multi-agency cognition led by the Forest Department, successful collaboration with RESQ Charitable Trust, the Indian Air Force, and Pune Airport authorities,” they said.
The beingness of the large feline was archetypal confirmed connected April 28. On November 19, the leopard was spotted erstwhile again. wood officials said, “The chaotic carnal utilised an extended web of underground tunnels, dense vegetation, and low-footfall zones wrong the airdrome premises to determination successful and retired of the area.”
“Given the immense and delicate quality of the airdrome landscape, seizure efforts posed challenges. Continuous monitoring was undertaken utilizing camera traps, unrecorded cameras, and trap cages, though the leopard avoided entering cages,” wood officials said successful a release.
On December 4, officials were informed that the leopard had entered the underground passageway network. Tunnel exits were past closed and much unrecorded surveillance cameras were installed to way its question wrong the confined space.
A 30-member squad comprising unit from the wood Department, RESQ trust, and the Indian Air Force guided the leopard into an astir 80-foot-long tunnel, the merchandise said. The leopard was past tranquilised by wildlife veterinarian Dr. Gourav Mangla, it said.
“The leopard had damaged some unrecorded cameras, and I had to instrumentality a cleanable changeable from a precise hard space successful a confined passageway space. The palmy darting was imaginable lone due to the fact that the teams held their positions calmly and executed the program precisely arsenic designed,” said Dr. Mangla.
The leopard has since recovered and is presently housed astatine the Transit Treatment Centre astatine Bavdhan, Pune, for further reflection and assessment.
Mahadev Mohite, Deputy Conservator of forests, Pune Division, said coordination among the assorted agencies led to the seizure of the large cat. Officials said nary quality injuries occurred during the cognition and that airdrome operations continued without disruption.
