Leopard goes to school in Mulund

MUMBAI: A housekeeping staff of NES International School in Mulund discovered a leopard in the basement of the building on Saturday morning. As the school was shut for an annual programme, no student or teacher was present on the premises, as a result of which nothing untoward occurred. Till going to press, the rescue operation was still on, with the forest team installing a cage in the school godown where the animal was hiding.

Forest officials feel the leopard, aged around six years, must have strayed from Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which is 200 m from the school, separated by a road and a garden.

Around 10.30am, the staff, Dev Das, spotted a cat-like animal slinking into the basement of the school, which is located in Swapna Nagari, a residential area . Suspecting that it might be a leopard, he called a colleague and the two locked the basement door before informing the school management about it. Jyoti Chatterji, head of administration, called the officials of Sanjay Gandhi National Park and the local police. Chatterji told TOI, "Within 30 minutes, a forest team reached the school, where no one else but five housekeeping staff members and three other employees were present." Soon, other employees also gathered there.

Initially, when the team, comprising nine forest staffers and four vets, arrived at the school, they did not have any trap or tranquillizer with them; the equipment was brought later and the rescue operation started around noon. On inspecting the pugmarks, the vets said the leopard would be around six years old. Initially, the officers readied tranquilizers but as the animal refused to barge out of its hideout in the godown, they could not spot it, and so decided to adopt another method. Mumbai range forest officer Sudhir Padvale, said, "We blocked the godown door with a cage. We also put a hen inside it, hoping that the animal would walk into the cage, lured by the bird." Around 8.30pm, the officers started bursting crackers following which, the leopard did come out of its hideout but refused to "walk into the cage", an officer said.

Umesh Trivedi, who stays in an adjacent building, said, "Thankfully, the school was closed or it could have been really scary."

Animal lover Bhai Tarkar, who also visited the school during the operation, claimed the reason behind repeated incidents of leopards straying into residential areas was that the national park was "overcrowded with animals and there was not enough food for all of them. They go to residential areas, looking for food". Padvale, however, refuted the claimm, saying the park had adequate food and water for all the animals

.Time Line:10.30: Housekeeping staff Dev Das spotted leopard entering in basement ofthe school building after which he with help of another colleague lockedboth basement gate.10.35: Three staff members present in school informed to management who teninformed to SFNP officials.11 am: Rescue team of forest officer and animals doctors reached at spot12 am: Cage and other equipment were brought5.50 pm: Rescue team returned after fitting cage at godown door whereleopard hiding.