Leopard trapped in well rescued using ladder

A leopard, aged around two-and- a-half years, that had fallen into a 36-feet well in a village in Dahod district of Gujarat was rescued with the help of a makeshift wooden ladder, a forest official said Thursday.

The incident took place at Manli village in Limkheda tehsil, about 160 kms from here.

The leopard had fallen into the well during the daytime on Wednesday. The forest department prepared a makeshift ladder, using which it came out of the well at night, nearly eight hours later, the official said.

"A farmer from a field in Manli village first noticed the leopard. The man threw a wooden stick towards the animal on spotting it. The feline must have fallen into the nearby well while running away from the field," Janaksinh L Zala, deputy conservator of forest Devgadh Bariya circle, said.

"Although the well was filled with water, some part of the ground surface was visible above the water and the leopard made himself comfortable there. A large crowd had gathered near the well to see the big cat," he said.

After being alerted, forest officials reached the spot along with the rescue gear.

"A makeshift ladder was prepared and lowered into the well. Water from the well was also drained out. However, the leopard did not come out due to the large crowd surrounding the well," Zala said.

It finally came out using the ladder around 8.30 pm and immediately disappeared into the forest, he said.