A leopard has sparked panic in a north Indian city after wandering into a hospital, a cinema and an apartment block.
Authorities closed schools in Meerut, 37 miles (60km)
north-east of the Indian capital, after the leopard was discovered prowling the
city's streets on Sunday, a senior city official said.
"Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to track
the leopard down. We have launched a massive hunt for the beast," said the
additional district magistrate SK Dubey.
The big cat was found inside an empty ward of an army
hospital on Sunday before wildlife officers were called and managed to fire a
tranquiliser dart into the animal, Dubey told AFP.
"But despite that he managed to break [out through] the
iron grills and escaped. He then sneaked into the premises of a cinema hall
before entering an apartment block. After that we lost track of the cat,"
he said.
Authorities have urged that markets be closed in the city of
3.5 million people until the animal is captured, according to the Press Trust
of India news agency.
A photograph in the Hindustan Times newspaper on Monday
showed the leopard leaping off a terrace in a congested residential area of the
city as people scrambled out of the way.
Last week, a leopard killed a five-year-old boy in central
Chhattisgarh state, the latest in a string of incidents raising concerns about
depleting habitats for the cats, which is forcing them into populated areas.
Alarming video footage from Mumbai last year showed a
leopard creeping into an apartment block foyer and dragging away a small dog
Meanwhile, a tiger on the prowl in northern Uttar Pradesh
state since last December is believed to have killed about 10 people. Wildlife
officials are still trying to hunt it down.
WWF called for better management of forests and other
habitats for India's leopard population, which numbered 1,150 at the 2011
census.
"Leopards are large territorial mammals. They need
space to move around. Some of their corridors are getting blocked so there is
bound to be an interface," Deepankar Ghosh of WWF-India told AFP.
"We can't put all the leopards into cages. We can't
remove all the people living near forested areas. We have to manage the situation
the best way we can."
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