‘Don’t venture out’: J&K Wildlife dept issues advisory as leopard flees after wounding official in Srinagar

Srinagar: The Wildlife Department issued an advisory Tuesday evening to people living in Baghi Mehtab and adjacent areas of Srinagar not to venture out till tomorrow morning as the leopard sighted in the locality is yet to be caught.

Speaking to The Kashmir Monitor, Wildlife Warden, Srinagar, Altaf Hussain, who was at the spot, said a team has been trying to capture the animal for the entire day but it has managed to flee every time they were able to trace it.

“I’m at the spot. A few darts (tranquilizer) had hit the animal but it was frightened as the locals did not cooperate and made a lot of commotion. It fled away after injuring one of our team members during this operation,” Altaf said.

He advised people of the area and its adjoining localities not to venture out till tomorrow.

“Since it is dark now, we have to halt the search. We will resume it tomorrow morning. I advise everyone in the area not to move out of your homes till tomorrow morning, as an encounter with the animal can be life threatening,” he said.

Earlier in the day, a leopard, was seen roaming in the Baghi-Mehtab area frightening the entire locality even as more and more cases of human-animal conflict are coming to the fore.

Video of the leopard jumping fences in the residential colony went viral on social media.

The news about the leopard roaming in the colony soon went viral and even people of the adjoining localities said they were terrified and stopped moving out of their houses.