ISLAMABAD: The wildlife board in Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad revealed on Wednesday that a leopard that ran amok in the city, injuring and terrorizing people last week, was not a pet as per rumours but it came from the wild as it showed “no signs of being domesticated.”
Last week, videos circulating on social media showed a leopard frantically roaming across the upscale Defense Housing Authority (DHA) neighborhood in Islamabad. The leopard ran amock for hours, terrorizing citizens before it was shot with a sedation dart.
The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) had said four people sustained “minor injuries” while trying to rescue the animal, adding that it was investigating how it entered the urban area.
Social media users claimed the cat was kept as a pet by a senior army officer living in DHA, after which the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police said it had registered a case against an "unidentified" individual for allegedly keeping a leopard in their house.
“IWMB’s experts have now determined DHA leopard did come from [the] wild. He’s not showing any signs of being domesticated,” Rina Saeed Khan, honorary chairperson of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board, wrote in a Twitter post.
“We believe he came at night from Kahuta’s forests around 6 km from DHA-2. Forests in [the] area are under stress. Good news as he can be returned to wild,” she said.
Khan also requested people not to “believe [in] any fake news”, and added that it took a few days for experts to study the leopard’s behavior to be sure of his origin.
“It took a team effort to successfully save this leopard. Lessons were learnt [and the] IWMB will have a better response in case of any future incident. IWMB’s injured staff [and] volunteers are its real heroes!” she added.
Pakistan last year banned the import of exotic mammals after large numbers were brought in or bred in recent years, causing problems for wildlife officials.
Big cats are seen as symbols of wealth and power in the country.
Islamabad is bordered by the Margalla Hills where a preservation zone has been set up to protect wild leopards in the area.
