Panic grips Siliguri after leopard escapes from safari park

Panic gripped residents of Siliguri on Tuesday after a leopard escaped from its enclosure in the Bengal Safari Park in the district town, forest officials said.

Some employees of the park saw the big cat escaping from its enclosure Tuesday morning, the Director of Bengal Safari Park, Rajendra Jakhar, said.

As a result no visitors were allowed to go inside the park on Tuesday, Forest officials said.

The employees of the park along with forest officials could not locate the leopard during the day, a forest official said.

Efforts were on to locate and trap the leopard till last reports came in.

The enclosures for different animals in the safari park have been built with nets made of iron, an official said, adding, forest officials are trying to figure out how the big cat escaped from its enclosure.