Jaipur:
A two and a half-year-old leopard was rescued after 40 hours of being stuck in a dry well in a village outside Jaipur. The leopard fell into an old abandoned well of a fort called Madhogarh on Monday night.
All of Tuesday morning forest officials tried to rescue the animal by lowering a net and using meat as a bait to get him into the net so he could be pulled out but it all the efforts went in vain.
Finally experts from Sariska had to be called in to rescue the animal; they lowered a ladder into the well and then shot a tranquilser at him, once the animal was tranquilised he was pulled out unhurt. He will now be released into the Sariska forest from where he appears to have strayed.
It took 40 hours to rescue the beast because the diameter of the well was very small and the animal would hide in the little nooks and crannies inside the well making it difficult to locate him. But experts say the animal is unhurt and in good condition despite his long stay in the well.
"The cat family is good at jumping so even when landing in the borewell he remained unhurt," said Subjhojeet Bhattacharya, volunteer and wildlife researcher, Sariska.