Leopard caught strolling at Mercedes-Benz Pune plant, rescued after 6 hours

A leopard entered into Mercedes-Benz facility in Pune during the early morning hours, causing production disruption for nearly six hours.

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At Mercedes Benz India's production facility in Chakan, an unforgettable World Forest Day 2022 event occurred when a leopard lost his way and wandered into the plant. Within four hours, the Chakan Forest Department tranquilized the unusual visitor. For nearly six hours, work inside the production facility was stopped.

Seeing an adult leopard prowling the premises of the luxury car manufacturing plant, the Chakan employees sounded the alarm. Maharashtra Forest Department came to the 100-acre production facility to take control of the situation.

Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre's Wildlife SOS Team and veterinarians were also called in to assist in trapping and rescuing the big cat. Meanwhile, police advised the nearby workers to move to a safer spot as a precaution.

Dr Shubham Patil and Dr Nikhil Bangar's teams spent around 6 hours finding the leopard hiding under one of the factory sheds and then securing the area. The two teams successfully captured the distressed cat at about 11.30 a.m., nearly six hours after it was sighted. This was accomplished by luring it, capturing it in a small area, and then shooting a tranquilizer dart at a safe distance.

#Pune: A leopard which strayed inside the sprawling Mercedes Benz factory was rescued after the plant had to be partially evacuated and operations halted for nearly 6 hours, here on Monday. pic.twitter.com/2Fo0LDT30m

— IANS (@ians_india) March 21, 2022

According to MFD Range Forest Officer Yogesh Mahajan, the leopard was transferred to a special transport cage and transported to Junnar. It remains under medical observation there before being released into the wild.

According to Dr Bangar, the Wildlife Veterinary Officer with Wildlife SOS, the leopard is a male, around the age of 2-3 years. Leopards of Maharashtra are forced to venture into human-dominated areas due to rapid habitat loss, said Wildlife SOS CEO K. Satyanarayan after the successful rescue.

"Our team is trained to ensure that such situations are handled with the utmost caution, keeping in mind the safety of the leopard as well as humans," said Satyanarayan.

After the operation was successful, the relieved workers returned to their workplaces and normalcy was restored by noon, according to police.

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With Inputs from IANS