Big cat on campus! Exams postponed after leopard enters Ghaziabad school — watch

GHAZIABAD: A full-grown leopard strayed into Greenfield School in Ghaziabad’s Govindpuram area, where it is believed to be currently holed up.

The animal was first seen on the school’s CCTV at around 5.15 am.

“At around 7.50 am, Greenfield School contacted the Forest Department and also shared CCTV footage in which a full-grown leopard could be seen. After analysing the footage, we found that the first sighting was at around 5.15 am, when the animal was passing through flower pots with cars parked in the background. We believe the animal later entered Greenfield School, where another clip showed it in the school field, which appears to be the school’s amphitheatre area,” said Isha Tiwari, District Forest Officer, Ghaziabad.

“A team from the Forest Department is stationed in the area and has set up a trap. We have also called a tranquillising team from Meerut and will shortly employ a drone to track the animal. There is panic in the area, so we have barricaded it, and efforts are ongoing to trace the leopard,” added Tiwari.

Gurucharan Singh, a resident of Govindpuram, said, “I was checking the CCTV footage outside our house at around 5.13 am when I noticed an unusual animal moving along the road towards the school. On closer inspection, I realised it was a leopard and immediately alerted my neighbours. This is the time when most of us go out for a morning walk.”

Suman Kaushik, principal of Greenfield School, said, “As soon as our staff informed us of the leopard sighting, we immediately contacted the Forest Department. Fortunately, there is no CBSE exam centre at our Govindpuram branch, but we postponed the annual exams. We informed parents at around 8 am that the school would remain closed until further notice.”

This is not the first time a leopard has been sighted in the Govindpuram area. In September 2023, a leopard was seen at the 47 PAC Reserve Battalion Camp in Govindpuram by two guards on the night shift.

Earlier, in May 2023, a leopard was reported in Chudiyala village in Modinagar. It was later captured and released in the Saharanpur forested area.

In February 2023, a full-grown male leopard entered the Ghaziabad court campus. It was captured after several hours, but during the process, six people were injured, including two lawyers.