The Forest Department personnel have caught a leopard that had entered a farmhouse at Gollarahosahalli in Channarayapatna taluk on Thursday late night. A three-year old female leopard had taken shelter in the farmhouse belonging to Mayanna.
Ravindra Kumar, Assistant Conservator of Forests, told The Hindu on Friday that the operation was completed by around 9 p.m. “We tranquilised the leopard and caught it in a cage placed at the entrance of the house,” he said. Residents of the village noticed the wild animal in the farmhouse which was being used to store agricultural produce, at around 10 a.m. on Thursday.
They informed the Forest Department officials, who placed cages at the doors of the house and fired crackers inside the house to prompt the animal to run into the cage. However, the animal did not respond to crackers. Finally, veterinarians were called in and they fired the tranquilizer dart at the animal before catching it.
Mr. Kumar said, the animal had been kept at Gendekatte Forest Park, near Hassan.