In a bizarre incident, a leopard in Rajsamand district of Rajasthan wandered into a human habitat in search of water and got stuck with its head in an aluminum utensil with a narrow opening. After 10 hours of struggle, the frightened animal was put out of its misery by a team of Forest Department officials.

The leopard was later released in a dense forest of the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary.

Early on Wednesday morning, residents of Sardul Kheda village woke up to the strange screeching of the animal. The frightened leopard ran through the village with its head stuck in the pot and the villagers chased after it, happily taking photos with their mobile phones.

Some villagers tried to capture the animal by tying its legs but it only made it more aggressive. The villagers then informed the forest officials, who tranquilized the animal and managed to remove its head from the pot.

“It took four hours to tranquilize the leopard and remove the pot. The leopard could have suffocated if his head had remained trapped for longer. Our team tranquilized the leopard and moved it to an enclosure. We tried to remove the aluminum pot from various angles and were successful without using a gas cutter,” said Rajsamand District Forest Officer Kapil Chandrawal. We received information around 10 am and by afternoon the leopard was released in the forest area, he added.

Forest officials said the leopard was around three years old and had wandered into the village in search of water. A week earlier, villagers had reported frequent sightings of a leopard and two cubs around their fields.

According to forest officials, several animals had left the Kumbhalgarh sanctuary and taken shelter at nearby marble dump sites where water was scarce. “There is no shortage of water in Rajsamand and the nearby Kumbhalgarh sanctuary. The huge blocks of marble have been in these places for years. The narrow ridges or small caves between the large marble blocks provide security to these animals,” Chandrawal said.

Rajsamand is the largest marble producing district in the state. Kumbhalgarh district and sanctuary have abundant water resources in the form of lakes, ponds and seasonal rivers. The Kumbhalgarh shrine is just 20 km from Sardul Kheda village, where the incident occurred.