The northern Indian city of Meerut was both panicked and intrigued by a leopard on the loose on Sunday, which has eluded captors since. The big cat was found in a local timber shop before being cornered in a nearby hospital, local forest official Sushant Sharma told CNN on Tuesday. Animal control experts were called to tranquilize the animal, which made a daring escape, breaking a window in the room to make its getaway. After breaking out of the hospital it went into a cinema and later also entered an apartment block. Stunning photographs purport to show the leopard leaping across rooftops, squeezing through a hole in the wall of the Meerut Cantonment Hospital, and snarling at a baton-wielding official through a window.
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Leopard runs amok in Meerut, north-east of New Delhi
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Evades capture after being cornered in a hospital
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Leopard also entered a cinema and apartment block
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Increase in urban big cat-sightings sparks debate about encroachment on animal habitats
The increasing number of sightings -- and attacks -- by big cats in @placeholder is raising the issue of human encroachment on wild animal habitats.