Leopard enters Ghaziabad school, stays holed up there for 8 hours; rescued

GHAZIABAD: A full-grown leopard strayed on Wednesday morning into Greenfield School in Govindpuram area and remained holed up inside a washroom for over eight hours before being tranquilised and rescued. The animal was first sighted on CCTV at 5.13am by a resident outside his home. It later made its way to the school and was captured on CCTV cameras at 5.15am. The leopard remained there until it was rescued by the forest department in the afternoon. The resident, Gurucharan Singh, said he noticed an unusual movement on the road near his home. “I was checking the CCTV footage when I saw the animal heading towards the school. On closer inspection, I realised it was a leopard, after which I alerted my neighbours. It was around the time when most us usually stepped out for morning walks,” Singh said. Forest officials said the male leopard was around three to three-and-a-half years old. School authorities were initially unable to locate the animal on campus, leading to panic. Ghaziabad district forest officer Isha Tiwari said the school contacted the forest department around 7.50am. “They also shared CCTV footage in which a full-grown leopard could be seen. By 8am, a forest department team reached the school and secured the area. Around noon, a tranquilising team arrived from Meerut. In the meantime, we tried to locate the animal using a drone, but without success,” Tiwari said. The rescue team then began a search wearing protective gear. “Team members made cat-like sounds and heard a growl when they reached the boys’ washroom. The washroom was immediately locked. The animal was seen peering through a grilled ventilator,” Tiwari added. She said the leopard was tranquilised around 3.45pm. “It was brought to the district forest office for a medical examination. It was found to be in good health with no injuries and was later released in the Shivalik range in Saharanpur,” she said. Tiwari added that tranquilising the animal was challenging. “The leopard was very aggressive and charged each time we aimed. We eventually had to bore a four-inch hole in the washroom wall and fire the dart through it. The animal was unconscious within minutes, giving us enough time to rescue it,” she said. Greenfield School principal Suman Kaushik said they postponed ongoing annual examinations. “As soon as we were informed about the leopard sighting by our staff, we alerted the forest department. Fortunately, our school is not a CBSE examination centre. We informed parents around 8am. The school will reopen on Thursday, and examinations will be conducted as per schedule,” Kaushik said. (With inputs from Ayantika Pal)