Leopard pays a visit to Vaishno Devi shrine; gets captured

With the country under lockdown due to COVID-19 crisis, and humans locked inside their homes, animals are taking over the roads. There have been many reports, where wild animals have been spotted on streets roaming around freely. And the latest report making headlines and going viral on social media platforms is about leopards spotted in Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir.

Reportedly, a leopard along with two cubs were reported in Katra town, the base camp for the pilgrims visiting the holy shrine. However, as per the latest reports, the leopard has been captured by the wildlife department near Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Reasi district. Officials in the know-how stated that the female leopard was found trapped near the town in one of the cages on Friday, which was eventually shifted to Manda Zoo in Jammu. Efforts are now being made to capture the cubs, who managed to escape the trap and fled to the nearby forest, the officials mentioned.
In the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak, pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi shrine has been suspended since March 18. Every year, the shrine receives millions of pilgrims from India as well as from the foreign countries. After reaching the Katra base camp, the devotees are required to trek for nearly 12 km to reach the holy cave. However, with the lockdown in place, the streets remained abandoned, leading to the sightings of wild animals, like leopards.

The majestic creature was wandering on the hilly path that leads to the shrine, which was captured on CCTV, and is going viral on social media.