A leopard which fell into a ground-level water tank inside a mangrove, was rescued by Forest department personnel with the help of fire and rescue services in Pernambut on Monday.
There was very little water in the tank by the time the animal fell, but hunger and exhaustion played into its failure to climb the tank on its own.
Villagers of Silambu Koil near Aravatla, a hilltop village in Pernambut woke up to a series of roars in the morning. When they found the leopard inside the water tank in the ‘Manthoppu’ of Govindaraj, they alerted Pernambut Forest officials.
District Fire Officer, Bhargava Theja and Assistant Conservator of Forests, Muralidharan, went to the spot and assessed the condition of the animal. Forest Ranger Sankaraiah and fire service personnel chalked out a plan to the rescue animal from the tank.
They used a bamboo ladder to coax the leopard to climb it. After many attempts, the animal jumped on the ladder to escape into a reserve forest area.
Forest officials said the animal, which seems to be 3-year old, probably trespassed into the mangrove in search of its prey.
Crowd control
As the word spread, hundreds of people arrived to see the leopard.
Forest Department personnel had a tough time controlling the crowd as many people started taking photographs.
Officials finally dispersed the crowd as they were worried that the noise would further agitate the leopard.
Luckily, exit points were cordoned off to pave way for the animal’s rescue and easy escape.
