ISLAMABAD: At least four common Asian Leopards entered Saidpur Village in the Pakistani capital on Thursday evening and attacked a goat, state-run APP reported on Friday, as wildlife officials said the big cats had appeared at a home that encroached on their natural habitat.

Saidpur, a popular tourist spot, is a village and union council located in a ravine in the Margalla Hills near the Daman-e-Koh overlook in Islamabad. It is a Mughal era village and home to a wide range of religious and cultural heritage sites. The village is located next to a protected national park area. 

Officials of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) said they rushed to Saidpur after receiving reports that leopards had been spotted there at 1930 hours. A short clip of the leopards also made the rounds on social media.

“Locals had gathered on the spot like ‘spectators at a fun fair,’ which was risky as the wild animal, which was human shy in nature, could have been provoked and instigated by human sounds of hooting and rumpus and might have attacked them,” APP quoted an IWMB official as saying. 

The official said the leopards attacked a goat but abandoned it and fled after the locals created noise.

“The leopards have not intruded in the human settlement, rather humans have encroached into their habitat as the leopard attacked the goats in a newly built dwelling by locals, which is illegal and within the national park,” the IWMB official said. 

Officers at the Kohsar Police Station told APP police troops had been deployed in Daman-i-Koh and the vicinity of Saidpur Village to protect locals.