Maharashtra forest department captures leopard after two-day rescue operation at Mercedes-Benz plant in Pune’s Chakan

The animal is believed to be a fully grown male leopard aged between 3.5 and 4 years. Pic via special arrangement

After two days of an intense search and rescue operation, the leopard that had entered the multinational Mercedes-Benz manufacturing plant in Chakan was finally captured late on Monday night, bringing major relief to company employees and nearby residents.

The forest department issued a statement in this regard, stating that the leopard was first spotted on the company premises on Saturday morning after CCTV footage showed the animal entering the factory campus in search of prey.

The leopard later got trapped inside the massive shop floor area, prompting the company management to completely shut down production activities for two days as a precautionary measure.

Forest officials said locating and capturing the leopard inside such a huge manufacturing facility proved extremely challenging. Due to the vast area of the plant, forest teams had to carry out extensive combing operations to identify the animal's exact location.

Officials said the hungry leopard was eventually trapped in a cage strategically placed inside the manufacturing unit while it was searching for prey.

The animal is believed to be a fully grown male leopard aged between 3.5 and 4 years.

The rescue operation was successfully conducted through the coordinated efforts of the Junnar Forest Division, RESQ Charitable Trust and Wildlife SOS teams.

The operation was carried out under the guidance of Conservator of Forests, Pune, Ashish Thakare; Deputy Conservator of Forests, Junnar, Prashant Khade; and Assistant Conservator of Forests, Amrut Shinde.

The rescue team included Range Forest Officer Santosh Kank, Forester Indalkar, Ms Jagtap, Ms Pisal, staff members of the Chakan Forest Department, Mahendra Dhore and Dr Avinash Visalkar from the Manikdoh Rescue Centre, along with Nachiket Utpat, Kiran Rahalkar, Aejaj Shaikh and the RESQ Charitable Trust team from Bavdhan, Pune.

Police officials and company representatives also assisted in the operation, including Police Inspector Vijay Dhamale of Mhalunge Police Station and Mercedes-Benz administration representatives Sarang Joshi and Venkatesh Kulkarni.

The successful capture of the leopard ended two days of tension inside the industrial unit and surrounding areas, informed Prashant Khade, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Junnar Forest Division.