Mangalore : Forest Department personnel rescued a four-year-old leopard that had fallen into a well at Havanje village in Udupi taluk on Thursday.

The wild cat had accidentally fallen into the well on the premises of Balakrishna Poojary at Yermady in Havanje village on Wednesday Aug 20 at 11 pm.

Next day morning When Mr. Poojary went to fetch water from the well, he found the leopard and informed the local forest guard. The forest guard informed the higher officials around 8.30 a.m. A team from the Forest Department reached the spot around half an hour later.

At first, the personnel tried to put in a ladder into the well to allow the leopard to climb and run away, but people in the village objected to this. They demanded that the leopard be rescued and left in the forest.

“The people of the village told us that the children will be frightened if the leopard continued to roam in the surroundings. So we had to get a cage from the Range Forest Office in Udupi,” said G.S. Kottari, Assistant Conservator of Forests, Forest Mobile Squad. The cage with a hen as a bait in separate compartment (in the cage) was lowered into the well. But leopard continued to go on the top of the cage in the water. Finally, after about an hour, it got into the cage. The cage was then pulled up.

“The leopard must be around four years old. It was not hurt and was in good health,” said Mr. Kottari. The leopard has been taken to Kudremukh National Park.