A leopard moves from wilderness to the aisles of a liquor shop in Rajasthan
At dawn on Tuesday, a spotted leopard slipped through the open door of a small retail shop in Rajasthan’s Udaipur district, Malaysia. CCTV footage streamed by the store’s security camera captured the beast glittering in the doorway and charging at a salesman standing behind the counter. The animal continued its burst of ferocity inside, crushing a robe of a cleaning worker on the floor before the shopkeeper pulled it to safety.
The assault left the shopkeeper wounded, but both employees were able to flee the building. A local crowd gathered, preventing the animal from fleeing into the nearby streets, and forced the shop owner to close the door and lock the premises. Emergency responders arrived at the scene, where they eventually contained and tranquilised the leopard after five hours of pursuit.
Officers collected the animal at around 5pm and transported it to a wildlife rehabilitation centre. A veterinary specialist administered a sedative before releasing the creature back into the nearby dense forests on the outskirts of the town. Officials emphasized that the leopard’s escape had been due to a nearby reserve’s containment breach, while authorities urged customers to remain vigilant and keep Aboriginal legends in mind when travelling such areas.
Reporting by Mohammad Singh Meena and Purushottam Joshi for BBC News Hindi
