Dharamshala: Two leopards, a male of 15 years and female 5 years escaped from their protected area at Gopalpur Wildlife Biological Park, 15 kms from here. The park has been closed for public and a search launched for the big cats.
SDM Palampur Ajit Bhardwaj and DSP Vikas Dhiman have alerted the surrounding Panchami area and asked school staff in the vicinity of the park to be vigilant.
Bhardwaj said that the protected wired enclosure from where leopards escaped was found cut at two places. The police is investigating the matter.
The biological park has 12 leopards and several other animals.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
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The escaped leopards have been recaptured (New Update by Arvind Sharma)
The two leopards which had escaped from the Gopalpur Zoo on Tuesday night have been traced and trapped. They had been brought back to the zoo by the staff by Thursday noon.
Nitin Patil, DFO Wild Life Hamirpur said, “Both the leopards were safely rescued back this morning. A worker got minor injuries in this operation. The successful operation was completed with the help of police.”
The DFO revealed that that the fence of the leopards was cut intentionally by some body to set them free. “ Some meat pieces were spread around the cage cut place confirms that the leopards were attracted to come out of the cages,” said Patil.
The two leopards that had escaped from the Gopalpur Zoo on Tuesday night after some miscreant cut the wires of the fence had triggered panic in the area.
The administration on Wednesday had sounded an alert in surrounding areas and asked locals to be cautious.
A case has been registered and investigation is on to nab the culprits said, DFO (wildlife) Nitin Patil.