The leopard that got caught in a snare laid for wild boar at a land near Pernambut, put up inside a lantern bush in Vellore on Saturday. The animal was later taken by forest officials to Arignar Anna Zoological Park | express VELLORE-India: Nearly 18 hours after an adult female leopard, ensnared by a trap meant to capture wild boar, forest department personnel with the help of experts from Arignar Anna Zoological Park tranquilised the leopard, releasing the snare made of iron wire from the leopard’s abdomen. The rescue occurred at 1.30 pm on Saturday and the leopard is now in safe custody of forest officials, who are waiting directions to either release it into the forest or hand it over to Vandalur Zoo. Farmers use snares to prevent wild boar from encroaching into their farmlands. On receiving information about a leopard being caught in one of these snares in a patta land in Rangampettai beat,  100 metres away from Mordhana Reserve Forest (RF), a team of forest officials rushed to the spot at 6.30 am on Saturday. Due to poor lighting and fog the officials managed to locate the trapped animal in the bushes only after an hour. Choosing to maintain a distance from the animal, fearing safety, they had a difficult time keeping the villagers, who started pouring in, at bay. The officials summoned experts from Arignar Anna Zoological Park.  A team led by Dr R Thirumurugan finally darted the leopard using a blow pipe and tranquilised it despite having  a rifle with them. “It took six minutes for the medicine to sedate the leopard. After releasing the leopard from the snare, it was shifted to a cage and Dr Thirumurugan administrated a drug to revive the animal from the effect of the tranquiliser. The animal regained consciousness within 10 minutes and was soon active in the cage,” said a forest official. “The knot of the trap was tightened around the abdomen of the leopard but there is no injury to the animal,” said Pernambut Ranger Krishnamurthy and added that the predator was taken to the Pernambut Range office. Villagers claimed that the predator feasted on the livestock of farmers living near the forest in Pernambut and Ambur ranges. Several incidents of a leopard mauling sheep and goats were reported in the past few months. (Source : Indian Express)