A leopard enters a house at Munda Tea Estate near Sonada, Darjeeling, and was rescued by the forest officials.
Earlier it had strolled into the house as a visitor and watched a video, a gentler one because, in the recent past, a lot of children have been mauled and killed by leopards in residential areas. The suburban areas of Siliguri is surrounded by dense forests, habitats of wild animals thus it is not uncommon for wild animals to be found roaming around the vicinity.
Below is a video of the incident where the leopard is seen watching a video!
Leopard rescued from a house at Munda Tea Estate near Sonada, Darjeeling by forest officials. Earlier it walked into the house as a visitor, watch video.
Video @TheDarjChron pic.twitter.com/5ytdoESMNM
— I Love Siliguri (@ILoveSiliguri) September 25, 2021
In 2015, 7,910 leopards were estimated to live in and around tiger habitat in India; about 12,000 to 14,000 leopards were speculated to live in the entire country. The leopard population within forested habitats in India’s tiger range landscapes was estimated at 12,172 to 13,535 individuals. Surveyed landscapes included elevations below 2,600 m (8,500 ft) in the Shivalik Hills and Gangetic plains, Central India and the Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats, as well as the Brahmaputra River basin and hills in Northeast India.
Every year on average nearly 400 leopards are reported killed yearly in India, Nepal, and China combined based on the leopard skins caught from the poachers. In and around the Shivalik hills of Himachal Pradesh alone, 68 leopards were killed by people between 2001 and 2013, of which only 10 were man-eaters.
However, it has become alarming that in recent times, leopards are found wandering into residential areas and have attacked children wherein many young children have lost their lives from a vicious leopard attack.
Recently this year in May 2021, a leopard sneaked into a home and attacked two persons
In recent times, this is the second incident in Siliguri when the wild animal has been found straying into suburban places.
Fortunately, the leopard in this case was a mellow one and was seen watching a video!