The residents of Netivandlapalle in Veeraballi mandal counted anxious moments on Thursday morning after they spotted a leopard among bushes in the village. The animal was trapped after being shot with a tranquiliser gun by a rescue team after a six-hour-long effort.
Villagers, who were on their way to agricultural fields, saw the animal around 8 a.m. Hearing the roar, the panic-stricken residents ran helter skelter. Amid their loud shrieks and commotion, the leopard climbed a peepal tree and remained on its branche. Receiving an alert from the villagers, Veeraballe Sub-Inspector Bhakthavatsalam and Rayachoti Rural Circle Inspector Prabhakar Babu rushed to the spot and informed forest officials. A Forest Department rescue team soon arrived and immobilised the animal by shooting it with a tranquiliser gun. Later, the forest personnel brought the leopard down from the tree and locked it up in a cage, before shifting it to the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park at Tirupati. According to officials, the leopard was two years old and might have ventured into the village from the nearby Seshachalam forest. The villagers heaved a sigh of relief as the animal did not harm anyone.
Forest officials shift the animal to Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Tirupati after immobilising it with a tranquil gun
