A zoo worker shuts the main gate of Nandankanan after the lioness was found missing from its enclosure. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 10: On Saturday, a leopard had unleashed terror in Guwahati. Three days later and almost a thousand kilometres away, a lioness escaped from its enclosure at Nandankanan Zoological Park to leave visitors and the authorities in a state of panic. The leopard had mauled four residents (one of whom died on Monday) before it was tranquillised, but 13-year-old Supriya of Nandankanan has not harmed anyone but is yet to be caged.

Today’s incident has left the zoo authorities worried, as it is the second such case in two months. In November, a tiger had sneaked out of its enclosure during the peak hours. A worried zoo management has ordered a probe into today’s incident.

Panic gripped Nandankanan zoo soon after the gates opened this morning. A zoo official found that lioness Supriya was missing from enclosure 29B. By the time the zoo authorities had realised this, over 1,000 visitors were inside the park. Some had even boarded battery-run vehicles for a tour of the park. A few others were moving towards the lion enclosures. The zoo authorities immediately stopped the sale of tickets and the park gates were closed. Those inside were moved to safety.

“More than 1,000 tourists had bought tickets and more than half of them had entered the park. Those inside the park were brought back in buses,” said S. Chamaptiray, range officer of Nandankanan.

Four teams, comprising 40 men including the zoo director, deputy director, assistant director and veterinary doctors, swung into action. They tried to spot the lioness and tranquillise it. Two elephants were also deployed to locate Supriya. However, till late evening the animal could not be captured.

S.N. Mohapatra, deputy director of Nandankanan, said they had spotted the lioness in a bushy area behind the park’s veterinary hospital.

“We tried thrice to tranquillise the animal but failed because of the inclement weather. It has been raining all day and the bushes made it difficult for us to capture the animal. However, having confined it to the area behind the zoo hospital, we have now fixed nets there and hope to capture the animal soon,” said Mohapatra. He, however, did not explain how the animal managed to escape.

Sources said it was a regular zoo holiday on Monday and when the zoo opened this morning, the caretaker found the lioness missing from its enclosure. “A portion of the enclosure was seen broken. It is suspected that the animal might have escaped in the night by breaking the enclosure,” said a source.

A zoo official said the area behind the hospital would be guarded during the night to ensure that the animal remained there. The search for the lioness would resume tomorrow.

For visitors to Nandankanan, an initial sense of panic gave way to disappointment as it became evident that the zoo would remain out of bounds for them till the beast was captured.

Animesh Chawala, who had come along with his family from Mathura, was inside the park when he learnt about the incident. “We were inside the park, when we were told that a lioness had escaped from its enclosure. We were scared and ran for cover. The zoo buses took us out of the park,” he said. He, however, regretted that his “dream of visiting Nandankanan zoo” remained unfulfilled.

The zoo authorities returned the entry fees collected from the visitors. During this time of the year, the zoo has a footfall of around 20,000 everyday. Today’s incident would leave the zoo poorer by more than Rs 2 lakh.