Kozhikode: The forest personnel rescued a leopard that had fallen into a well on private land at Perumpoola in Koodaranhi. According to officials, the animal has been shifted to the Thamarassery forest range office after the rescue in the wee hours of Sunday.
The leopard was first spotted inside the 15-metre deep dry well on Wednesday (October 15) morning. Initially, the people were unable to identify the animal that had fallen into the well on the Kuriassery farm owned by Kurian. After falling in, the injured leopard took shelter inside a cave in the well’s wall.
Forest officials confirmed the presence of a leopard after examining footage from a camera lowered into the well on Saturday morning. Following the confirmation, they set a trap to capture it by lowering a cage with a chicken as bait.
Around midnight, the leopard emerged from the cave to reach the chicken and was trapped inside the cage. Officials, who had been monitoring the well, immediately lifted the cage and rescued the animal. The leopard was found to have minor injuries, but a veterinary surgeon on-site confirmed that it was in good health.
Four-day-long mission
On Tuesday night, a worker on the farm heard a loud sound of something heavy falling into the well. The next morning, he visited the spot along with a neighbour, Vijo Palakkeel, and noticed a wild animal retreating into a cave in the wall of the well.
“We clearly saw its tail, but we weren’t sure whether it was a tiger or a leopard,” Vijo told the media.
Following the sighting, forest officials reached the spot and began efforts to bring the animal out of the cave. They used firecrackers to drive it out and later fixed a video camera above the well, which confirmed that the trapped animal was a leopard.
When a still camera was triggered, a clearer image of the leopard was captured. In the afternoon, with the help of the Fire and Rescue team from the Mukkom Fire Station, a cage was lowered into the well. Forest personnel were deployed on-site to monitor the situation.
Regional Forest Officer Shajeev said the leopard appeared healthy.
“It had eaten the prey we placed in the cage over the past three days, so it seems to be in good condition. We hope to trap it tonight itself. A camera has been fixed, and our veterinary surgeon and staff are on-site. Once trapped, the leopard will be safely released into a forest outside the district,” the officer said before the successful capture.
“It’s risky to lower a trap into a well, but we managed it safely using a tripod stand,” said MA Abdul Gafoor, Station Officer of the Mukkom Fire Station.