COIMBATORE: A leopard got trapped in a house near Masinagudi in the Nilgiris district on Wednesday night after it entered the premises chasing a pet dog. The leopard and the dog remained in the house for five hours till forest officials from the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) captured the big cat and released it into the forest in the early hours of Thursday.Around 9.30pm on Wednesday, N Sivakumar of Selvappa Colony in Moyar village heard his pet dog barking frantically. Upon checking, he found a leopard charging into his house, attempting to kill his dog. The leopard entered his house chasing the dog. Sivakumar quickly locked the main door from outside, trapping the big cat inside. He alerted the Masinagudi forest range office. The leopard didn’t attack the dog which kept on barking.A rescue team led by Masinagudi forest range officer V Rajan arrived at the spot. As word of the trapped predator spread, large crowds gathered, with several residents attempting to take photographs and videos through a window.This presence of people agitated the leopard, which began pacing aggressively. To pacify the animal, forest staff instructed all residents to return to their homes. The rescue team placed a cage directly at the entrance of the house. Around 2.30am on Thursday, they opened the house door aligned with the cage. The leopard walked straight into the cage and was secured.“We examined the leopard and found no physical injuries,” stated forest range officer V Rajan. The captured big cat was transported under veterinary supervision and safely released into the dense Sigur reserve forest area.
