Leopard rescued from Jodhpur factory

Jodhpur, Jan. 29 (ANI): Wildlife officials in Jodhpur rescued a leopard that had strayed into a factory.

Officials had been hunting for this leopard, which was spotted five days earlier at the army cantonment area in the city.

After spotting the leopard at a factory in Jodhpur on Friday, Locals informed the forest officials, who then captured the animal after sedating it.

The animal was later taken to the office of the department of forest where health officials examined it.

Rajiv Jukavat, a forest official, Jodhpur, put the age of the captured leopard to two to two and half years old.

"The leopard is around two to two and half years old and it is a male," said Jukavat.

The leopard is one of the most successful members of the Indian wildcat family and is distributed throughout the subcontinent, including Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh and also southern China.

Being the most widespread, it faces threat from poachers and hunters, who kill it for its valuable skin.

India had about 7,300 leopards in the wild according to a 1997 census, but conservationists say the number is now likely to be much lower. (ANI)