Injured Leopard Cub 'Escapes' From Zoo, Triggers Panic

In a bizarre incident, a leopard cub that was captured after it ventured into a farmer's house, reportedly escaped from a cage in a local zoo in India, triggering panic.

Authorities of Kamla Nehru Municipal Corporation Zoo in the Indian city of Indore said the seven-month-old injured animal was brought to the zoo Wednesday night in a cage that was installed atop a vehicle and covered with a sheet. The vehicle was parked inside the zoo premises but the leopard was found missing from the cage the next day, reported News 18.

As of Monday, the animal is still at large. Local media reports said that zoo workers who came to feed the leopard Thursday found the cage empty. Authorities were immediately alerted and 700-odd visitors were cleared from the zoo. Sniffer dogs were brought in to help the search, but all efforts ended in vain, the report said.

Though CCTV visuals showed footage of an animal outside the zoo premises, zoo in-charge Uttam Yadav told News 18 that it is unclear if it was the same animal as the footage was hazy. The cage was broken, suggesting that the leopard sneaked out.

Meanwhile, zoo officials said there is also a possibility that the leopard may not have entered the zoo premises in the first place. Since the cage was covered with a sheet, no one saw the animal, they said.

"We did not get any intimation from the forest team that brought the animal into the zoo. It appears the leopard fled before the vehicle reached the premises. It wasn't spotted even once during our day-long search on the zoo premises," Yadav told The Times Of India.

He said the cage was in a bad state, and the young leopard may have sneaked out through an opening while being transported.

The news sent the city into a tizzy. The zoo was closed down after the incident and a team was formed to catch the animal. Though it has been three days since the search began, there is no sighting of the leopard. The authorities have installed as many as four trap cages and three trap cameras inside the zoo premises.