Wayanad: A probable outing for a ‘bite’ turned out to be an ‘entrapment’ for a hapless leopard in Kalpetta, Wayanad.

The leopard, which forest officials said was famished, got trapped in the poultry coop on the premises of Hamza, a farmer and native of Kadassery, near Vaduvanchal, Kalpetta, under the South Wayanad Forest Division, late Sunday.

Hamza and his neighbours were alerted after there was a furious flutter and frantic clucking from the coop as the uninvited guest walked in. Forest officials said the leopard, too weak to hunt, could have ventured out to the forest-fringe village in search of food.

The Rapid Response Team (RRT) of the Forest Department rushed to the spot and tranquilised the animal. The RRT then shifted the animal to a special cage.

South Wayanad Divisional Forest Officer A Shajna said the animal had multiple wounds. “The animal is under treatment and will be released into the interior forest once the treatment is complete,” she added.

Sources said the leopard managed to get in through the door which was not fitted properly. It could not break open the meshed coop and exit. Sources said poultry birds do not form the regular prey of leopards in the wild. However, villagers had reinforced their coops with iron mesh after a series of incidents involving wild animals in the recent past.

However, villages under the South Wayanad Forest Division had witnessed wild animal attacks on cattle. Many villages had set up ‘night watches’ and pickets to scare away wild animals on the prowl near forest fringes.