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Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008
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Panther creates flutter

B.V.S. Bhaskar

Sneaks into residential area in Rajahmundry

PHOTO: S. RAMBABU

The panther lying in the bathroom of a house after it was tranquilized.

RAJAHMUNDRY: Sneaking into a residential area, a panther sent the people into a tizzy for over eight hours in this busy town on Tuesday.

It entered the bathroom of a house in Lalitha Nagar around 5.45 a.m. The high drama ended around 1.15 p.m, when the cat was “shot” with tranquilizing guns by experts who rushed from the Nehru Zoological Park in Visakhapatnam.

The wild cat was carted away and let off by Forest officials in the dense forests of Maredumilli by late evening. Everyone, including media persons, public and officials from the forest, fire, police and medical services departments did their bit in capturing the panther.

The animal was first noticed by a forest guard near Rajahmundry Central Jail around 4.30 a.m., but he did not inform anyone. After an hour, it entered the house. “When I went to the bathroom around 5.40 a.m., I saw it sitting in a corner. First I spotted the tail and thought it might be a dog, but soon the big spots caught my eye. I called my brother-in-law who lives close by. We then ran to the other side of the bathroom and while bolting the door, also placed wooden supports,” said the house owner G. Umamaheswari.

Inspector Trinatha Rao and SI Balakrishna soon reached the house followed by District Forest Officer Anand Mohan, Chief Conservator of Forest N. Pradeep Kumar and Govinda Rao.

As the news spread like wild fire, a crowd gathered outside right from early morning. People even clambered up roof tops to have a glimpse of the wild cat. Strangely though, the panther did not roar from the bathroom despite the noise generated by the crowd. Police had a tough time controlling the crowd.

“I have been waiting for four hours to catch a glimpse,” said Anusha, an engineering student. At 1 p.m., Dr. Srinivas, a veterinary doctor from the zoo and his team tranquilized the panther with a blow pipe from the top of the bathroom.

Apparently irked at the first dose, it roared at 1.35 p.m. Ten minutes later, another dose did the trick as the panther swooned. It was caged and within 30 minutes, an antidote was administered. By 3 p.m., the effects wore off and the panther was active in its cage.

Dr. Srinivas said it was around nine years old weighing 50 kg and 5 feet in length.

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