A leopard terrorised Islamabad for half a day. It turned out to be a retired General's pet.

For over seven hours on Thursday, a leopard was seen running within the housing societies of Pakistan's capital city, Islamabad. Naturally, people in the vicinity were trembling with fear (and so was the wild cat jumping around). It made for good content for Pakistani social media users though, with many recording the "leopard's day out", even mistakenly labelling the creature as a cheetah.

Just spot the spots on the cat and you would figure out it’s a leopard and not a cheetah. Regardless of what kind of big cat it was, the residents of Islamabad’s Defence Housing Authority-II (DHA 2) were naturally amused with this bizarre occurrence that happened on February 16 (Thursday). 

What was the leopard doing? 

The leopard could be spotted at DHA 2 for over seven hours on Thursday, leaping from wall to wall and even the porches of a few houses. The people in the surrounding area were naturally panicking and running around, only prompting the cat to run at lightning speed. One of the videos also shows a man firing at the leopard. 

But did the cat harm anyone?

While no fatalities were reported, three people were reportedly injured with the leopard's detour in Islamabad. Upon entering an under-construction house, it injured the society’s security guard who was in its path. Two team members of the wildlife bodies were also injured eventually. 

However, social media users are speculating that one also died, although this claim still needs to be factually confirmed. 

How did the city react?

While citizens were warned by the local authorities of a potential threat, many were also eager to spot the big cat on their own. Some who happened to be driving on the road could manage to get good glimpses of the animal on the loose. 

Meanwhile the city’s Rural Assistant Commissioner Zukhruf Fida Malik was trying his best to advise people to stay indoors (not that it was stopping them from finding Twitter content). Malik added that the wildlife department and the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board were doing their best to capture the cat. A trapper was also hired for the entire operation. 

What then?

Finally, after a gruelling seven hours, the rescue team succeeded at capturing the leopard by tranquilising it. The plans to rehabilitate it in a natural habitat will be disclosed soon. 

But, now, here’s the catch.

The leopard was a pet. 

It would have been a plausible theory for the leopard to have escaped from a jungle and accidentally visited the big city. Environmentalists would have turned the whole incident into an allegory for the destruction of animals’ natural habitats and what not. But, as it turned out, the leopard was actually a pet.

Unsurprisingly and as is the case with many other countries, Pakistan doesn’t legally permit keeping wild animals like leopards as pets. So, how did retired General Akram Raja own a leopard on a leash? 

Given the high military position that he enjoyed once, it is highly possible that Raja might have made use of some powerful connections to keep a leopard as a pet. Raja himself is a resident of DHA 2, living in the society’s D Sector. 

While it did leave three people injured, the leopard’s attacking methods could also reveal how the cat was not a wild one from the forests. Instead of striking the humans on the neck as a wild cat would usually do with their prey, the leopard’s crouching revealed more fear than terror. 

Now, what happens to the leopard’s owner?

The DHA 2 area falls under the Sahala Police Station and the Islamabad Police has tweeted that this station has booked an unidentified suspect under Sections 324 (attempt to commit murder) and 289 (negligent conduct with respect to animal) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The anonymous person facing these charges is most likely to be Raja who is now also receiving flak from Pakistani netizens. While his digital footprint is very small and hardly anyone even knows how he looks, the locals are angered by his negligence. The general consensus among Pakistanis is that the retired General must compensate the victims given that he might be pretty wealthy if he can keep such fancy pets!

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