ISLAMABAD, Feb 17 (EW): The Islamabad Police on Friday opened a criminal investigation against an unknown person for “domesticating” a leopard, a day after it ran free and injured several people in an upscale residential area of the capital.
Yesterday, video clips of the feline jumping across walls and navigating roads in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Phase II neighbourhood of Islamabad went viral on social media, leading to an hours-long effort by authorities to capture it.
Today, the Islamabad Police tweeted that its Sahala Police Station, under whose jurisdiction DHA Phase II falls under, booked an unidentified suspect under sections 324 (attempt to commit murder) and 289 (negligent conduct with respect to animal) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The leopard was a pet in an unknown person’s home, the police alleged. “The suspect endangered the lives of citizens by keeping dangerous animals,” it said in a second tweet. “The search for the accused is ongoing, legal action will be taken after arresting him soon.”
‘Alive and well’
Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman tweeted a video of the big cat sitting on the ground, saying this “leopard who escaped from a private zoo last night in Islamabad is alive and well at our Animal Rescue centre at the old zoo”.
She added: “Its six-hour capture operation injured one of our Wildlife staff quite badly. Costs to the community and the animal could have been much higher. STOP private zoos.”
The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), which captured the wildcat, shared videos showing the leopard “in good health” moving about in its enclosure. It also revealed it was male and that staffers have named him “Deeaitchay”, a play on the neighbourhood he was captured in.
“Male leopard is in good health at IWMB’s rescue and rehab centre,” it said. “IWMB scientific committee will decide next steps for leopard’s rehabilitation. Leopard has been named Deeaitchay by IWMB staff.”
Spotty day
Yesterday, it took the IWMB and Capital Development Authority more than five hours to capture the leopard, which a Dawn report said possibly escaped from a safari park and found itself “trapped” in the neighbourhood amid panicked residents.
The IWMB after failing to lure the animal into a cage had to use a tranquiliser around 10pm to sedate the animal after it was confined in a closed space by the volunteers and staffers present on the spot. According to Rina Saeed Khan, who heads the wildlife board, the leopard would be kept at a rescue centre in the Rescue Centre, which used to be the Islamabad zoo.
