A leopard was spotted half-a-kilometre from the runway of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad, India, at midnight of January 17. A CCTV camera captured the leopard running along a well-lit road adjoining the airport’s runway and then leaping over the boundary wall and disappearing into a thicket.

“The leopard was seen in an area designated for handling cargo and is close to a runway. There is no threat to the safety of human beings or livestock,” an airport official said. The airport authorities reached out to the Forest department officials, who are carrying out a search to find the animal.

Shankaran, the Deputy Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) with the Forest Department said, “The locality is a natural habitat for leopards, there is access to water and prey,” said the officer.