Forest department rescues leopard from 100-foot well
The villagers were first evacuated from the spot as a precaution before the rescue mission.
The cage being prepared to catch the leopard
COIMBATORE: The forest department officials on Friday rescued a leopard that accidentally fell into a 100 feet deep well in Sathyamangalam. Villagers alerted the forest officials after they found a leopard, hearing roars, inside an abandoned well not having a parapet wall at a farm owned by Manikkam in Pudhukuyyanur.
Forest officials said that the wild cat might have ventured out from the nearby forest looking for easy prey at the cattle farm, falling into the well accidentally as there was no parapet wall. A team from Sathyamangalam forest department and fire service personnel arrived to carry out the rescue operations. The rescue mission was impaired by the presence of hundreds of villagers, as the news of the wild animal spread like wildfire.
The leopard
The villagers were first evacuated from the spot as a precaution before the rescue mission. The forest officials lowered a cage in the well with a live chicken inside hoping to trap the leopard. “The cage was downed using a crane.
But the scared leopard didn’t didn’t enter the cage even after a long wait. The leopard didn’t respond to the spraying of water, to persuade the animal to get into the cage,” said an official. The cage was lifted out and a goat was kept inside as a prey this time to lure the leopard. As soon as the cage was lowered, the leopard didn’t take much time and immediately pounced into the cage, only to be trapped. The leopard was taken by a truck to be released into the forest area in Thengumarahada.
