2 min readGhaziabadFeb 25, 2026 10:44 PM IST
A 75-kg full grown leopard strayed into Green Field School at Govindpuram in Ghaziabad on Wednesday. The animal, found inside a male washroom at the school premises, was rescued after a three-hour operation by the Forest department, officials said.
Divisional Forest Officer Isha Tiwari said the department received a call from the school around 7.50 am after CCTV cameras showed a leopard entering the campus. “The school shared a video from its security camera, showing an animal… It appeared to be a leopard. Our team arrived at the school at 8.30 am,” Tiwari said.
“It took us over three hours to complete the rescue operation. We entered the building around 12.30 pm… We conducted a drone survey but could not locate the leopard initially. We then began a thorough search of the premises,” she added.
The team finally spotted the leopard inside a washroom near the back gate. “We first broke the glass windows of the washroom but visibility was poor. We then drilled a four-inch hole in the brick wall using a drilling machine and tranquilised the leopard through it,” Tiwari said.
The tranquilliser dart caused the wildcat to faint shortly after and be caged.
The school had informed parents by 8 am that classes would remain suspended until further notice.
The leopard will be released in the forests of Saharanpur, Tiwari said. “We will medically examine the leopard and assess its age.”
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The animal was first seen in CCTV camera footage around 5.15 am, while it was moving through a residential colony, said officials.
