A three-year-old male leopard wandered into the production area of a Mercedes-Benz plant in Chakan, Maharashtra in India on 21 March.
Times Now News reported that The plant was evacuated for a few hours while forest officials and volunteers from Wildlife SOS rescued it. Wildlife SOS is an NGO from Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre in Junnar.
The leopard was spotted as workers arrived for their morning shift at the plant. An emergency call was made at 5 am and busses were organised by the Mercedes-Benz crisis management team to take employees home.
‘We had a very special guest at Mercedes-Benz India campus this morning. A leopard strayed into the company’s production facility and was later rescued with the prompt support of the Forest Department and local police,’ Mercedes-Benz India said in a Facebook post.
Wildlife SOS captured the happenings and shared a video on YouTube.
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As reported by The Times of India ‘The animal was trapped in an enclosure. Our staff, including a veterinary doctor, shot a tranquiliser dart from an appropriate distance. We safely brought out the unconscious leopard around 11.30 am and took him to the centre where he will undergo a medical check before being released into a natural habitat,’ said MFD Range Forest Officer Yogesh Mahajan.
Leopards are not an uncommon sight in urban India. The landscapes are ever-changing and often blur the boundaries between forests and cities. This increases the competition for resources and means that more wildlife, including leopards are pushed into these urban areas.
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