West Bengal: Leopard 'Sachin' escapes from enclosure in safari park

Jan 1 (AZINS) A leopard escaped from its enclosure in the Bengal Safari Park located in Siliguri on Tuesday. The park has been closed for visitors due to safety concerns. After a massive search operation, the forest guards have managed to track the leopard, named 'Sachin'.

However, they are yet to catch 'Sachin'. Efforts are underway, reported Zee 24 Ghanta. He is currently in the area which is generally reserved for grass eating animals. Authorities are trying to ascertain how and why 'Sachin' left his own area where all meat-eating animals reside and have gone to the other part of the Safari Park. According to reports, the enclosure is spread over around 50-acre and has four leopards, two male and two female.

Last year, two leopards 'Sachin' and Sourav were brought from Khoirabari Tiger Reserve to the Safari Park located in Siliguri. On Tuesday, when the forest authorities did their mandatory headcount around 10 AM, they found 'Sachin' missing. Suddenly there was huge panic as there was no clarity about 'Sachin''s whereabouts. Today being New Year, there was a decent footfall of tourists in the safari park. All tourists were immediately brought out of the park and the entire area was sanitised.

Senior forest department officials rushed to the spot and a massive search operation was started to track ''Sachin''. After that 'Sachin' has been located, but now officials are trying to get him to go back to his enclosure before sunset.