Residents of Sukhdhanerkuthi village in Cooch Behar were in for a shock when an adult male leopard entered the house of a villager on Tuesday morning, but quick-thinking foresters prevented any man-animal conflict.

Foresters rushed to the spot and darted the animal after around five hours. It was later treated and released into the wild.

The leopard being caught from a house in Pundibari of Cooch Behar on Tuesday Picture courtesy: Bengal forest department

Local sources said that around 6am, a family member of Tarun Roy, a resident of Sukhdhanerkuthi under Pundibari police station limits of the district, spotted the leopard in the storeroom of the house.

He immediately alerted other members who quickly locked the doors and windows of the room to prevent the animal from bounding out.

As the news spread, hundreds of curious onlookers gathered to catch a glimpse of the animal. Also, the rapid response team, a team of tranquillising experts, and the team from the Chilapata forest range of the Jaldapara wildlife division and Cooch Behar forest division rushed to the spot.

As the crowd swelled around Roy's house, foresters urged people to maintain a safe distance. “We made it clear that if the leopard somehow comes out, it might attack people out of panic. Most of them, however, didn’t listen,” said a forester.

In such a situation, the teams decide to put nets around Roy’s house so that even if the leopard jumped out, it could not move into the open space.

After putting nets around the house, foresters searched for the animal. Eventually, they located and tranquillised it, much to the relief of Roy, his family and other villagers.

As the leopard turned unconscious, foresters wrapped it in the net and put it inside the cage. After some time, it regained its senses and was taken to the Chilapara forest range of the Jaldapara wildlife division. At around 11.30am, it was released in the wild.

“We acted promptly and our teams reached the village soon after we got the information. They acted judiciously by putting nets around the house and successfully darted the animal. There was a huge crowd, which is why the procedure took time. We released the animal into the wild,” said Parveen Kaswan, the divisional forest officer of the Jaldapara wildlife division.