Leopard comes to school, pounces upon 2 rescuers; tranquillized after 14 hours

Bengaluru, Feb 7: A young leopard entered a south-east Bengaluru elite school on Sunday and was tranquillized after a 14-hour long operation, during which it attacked two people.

The security at Vibgyor High, Kundalahalli spotted the leopard entering the school around 4am and flashed the alert. By early morning forest department personnel landed at the spot, armed with dart guns and tranquillizers.

The leopard, which played hide and seek with the forest officials team and a huge number of villagers who were camping on adjacent buildings and tree tops, cut loose during the final stages of the operation to nab it around 6pm and attacked the wildlife expert, Sanjay Gubbi, who was assisting the authorities and the two media persons.

The forest department personnel were closing in on the leopard that had hid in one of the rooms of the school around 6pm when the big cat suddenly sprung out of the room and darted towards the swimming pool.

The leopard attacked an unidentified person first but he managed to ward it off.

Gubbi, who was at the other end of the swimming pool, too was taken by surprise when the leopard turned towards him. He immediately rushed towards the compound wall and tried to scale it. He was pulled down by the leopard, which then attacked him.

Gubbi tried to chase away the animal using his binocular. By then it was shot with tranquilizer. The big cat suddenly turned its attention away from Gubbi and it ran towards the restroom inside which it collapsed.

Earlier in the day, the security personnel at the school confirmed the presence of the leopard after going through the CCTV footage showing the leopard walking through the corridors of the school. As the news spread, people from adjoining areas trooped in. Soon police and forest department were called in and the school was cordoned off.

Till afternoon there was no sign of the leopard inside the campus. By afternoon, it was spotted in a bush nearby. As a huge crowd moved towards the bush, it ran back to the school where the entire drama unfolded.