Leopard rescued after 30-hour operation

Giddalur: A leopard which had fallen in a pit near a village in the Giddalur mandal was rescued successfully by the forest officials after a 30-hour rescue operation, and released into the forest on Thursday.

The villagers of Devanagaram in Giddalur mandal throw dead animals into a pit near the village. The village which is just a few kilometres away from the Nallamala forest is usually visited by wild animals for food, occasionally.

About three days ago, a man dumped his farm animal into the pit. Passing by the pit, the man felt that there was no smell of the rotten flesh and went to check the pit. He observed a leopard, which feasted on the dead animal and trying to find a way to escape.

The man alerted the forest staff, who reached the village on Wednesday afternoon. They covered the pit with strong nets and branches of trees, made a passage for the leopard to leave the pit, and enter the cage in which a goat was kept as bait. The efforts to bring the leopard into the cage were successful after thirty hours of waiting on Thursday evening.

The forest officials shifted the leopard in the cage to the forest, and set it free, after treating the animal for injuries.