The forest department has deployed two teams and also installed a cage near Madhuban Bapudham housing project in Ghaziabad to trap an adult male leopard that was sighted in the locality near the Delhi-Meerut Road.
The forest department officials said their teams went to the jungle area near Madhuban Bapudham around 3.30pm on February 25 and sighted a fully grown leopard.
“The leopard escaped into the thick bushes and could not be spotted again. We have deployed two teams in the area to keep vigil as there is habitation about a kilometre from the area where the leopard was seen. The teams will be on vigil for the next 10-12 days. A cage has also been put up there to trap the leopard,” said Manish Singh, divisional forest officer (DFO).
The DFO said the department has also written to the Ghaziabad Development Authority, which is constructing the housing project, asking it to clear the bushy undergrowth in the area, which is proving to be a safe hiding place for the leopard.
The locals in the area said they sighted the leopard once when it got tangled in a plastic net.
“The plastic net was placed for trapping wild boars but the leopard got trapped in it. After seeing this, we informed the police and they called up the forest department. By the time the teams arrived, the leopard freed itself and fled,” said Mohammad Khamis, resident of Madhuban Bapudham.
The forest department officials said they clearly saw the leopard and have confirmed its presence in the area.
“It is expected that the leopard has moved to some other location for now and we are trying to trace it. The animal may have ventured outside of some wildlife sanctuary or the sugarcane fields in western Uttar Pradesh where sugarcane harvesting has been done. Similar sightings happened in January and February last year in Ghaziabad city as this is the season when leopards move out of jungle areas,” the DFO said.
In February last year, a leopard entered the Ghaziabad district courts complex in Raj Nagar and injured at least eight persons, including lawyers, litigants and others, on two different floors. The animal was finally captured after hectic effort of the forest department teams and they later released it in Saharanpur forest ranges.
A month before the incident, in January last year, a three-and-half year old male leopard was crushed to death by a speeding vehicle on Delhi Meerut Expressway stretch in Bhojpur, Ghaziabad.