Leopard, 'Trapped' In Buffalo Shed, Rescued After 4-Hour-Long Mission

A shocking incident has come to light in which a leopard stays trapped inside a cattle shed with a herd of buffaloes before it is rescued by the forest department. Interestingly, neither the predator nor the prey get injured or initiate any attack even as they share a close space. The Times of India report suggested that the incident occurred on Thursday at a farmer’s cattle shed in Mota Samadhiyala village of Amreli district in Gujarat. Farmer Kanti Korat was milking his buffaloes when he spotted the leopard in the shed. He quickly got out and locked the shed in a bid to stop the leopard from wandering into a residential area.

Korat then called the forest department. The leopard made several attempts to leave the shed by hitting the door but settled down with the buffaloes after some time. The news about a leopard being inside Korat’s cattle shed spread and many villagers arrived at the spot. The forest department eventually tranquilised the leopard and later released it back into the wild. In a press release, the forest department said, “The leopard was safely removed without hurting any life or property.”

This is not the only incident in which a leopard shared space with another animal and both animals came out unscathed.

In February 2021, a dog and leopard spent up to six hours trapped in a toilet at the Bilinele village in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. Reportedly the big cat was chasing the dog when both entered the washroom. The homeowners saw the leopard and locked the door. The forest department later arrived at the scene and tried to relocate the leopard using a net but the big cat managed to escape once the asbestos sheet roof of the toilet was opened.

Reporter Prajwal Bhat shared photos and videos of the incident on X. One of the photos shows the leopard and the dog sitting at different corners of the toilet. The dog, named Bollu, soon became a local celebrity for escaping the leopard unharmed. As per Bhat’s report in The News Minute, Raghavendra, a forest officer in Subramanya, theorized that the leopard might not have attacked Bollu because they prefer to attack in stealth. The leopard might have been unnerved by being trapped in a small space with no clear escape route. Additionally, the leopard would have been cautious about the dog defending itself as both animals were face-to-face.