In a shocking incident on Tuesday morning, chaos erupted along the Pune–Ahilyanagar Road near Kamargaon when a leopard suddenly leapt onto a speeding car, injuring itself. The rare and frightening encounter, captured on video, quickly went viral and renewed public concern over rising leopard sightings in Maharashtra. Eyewitnesses said the animal emerged from roadside bushes and attempted to pounce on the moving car but miscalculated the jump, hitting the bonnet before falling onto the road. Startled motorists halted as the wounded leopard lay still, drawing a large crowd and creating commotion on the highway.
Forest officials arrived shortly after being alerted and safely rescued the injured leopard before moving it for medical treatment. The incident follows a series of leopard-related attacks in the Pune district, some of which have led to fatalities, intensifying public fear. Meanwhile, in Kolhapur, panic spread when a leopard strayed near the MSEB Mahavitaran office in the city centre. During the rescue attempt, the animal turned aggressive and chased officers through narrow streets, causing chaos.
A video of the Kolhapur incident shows a police officer tripping as the leopard lunged toward him, but swift intervention from his colleagues scared the animal away. The officer escaped with minor injuries. In a separate case, forest officers in Junnar taluka’s Ghadgepat village captured a three-year-old female leopard early Sunday. The animal was trapped inside a cage set up in a banana plantation and later shifted to the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre for treatment and rehabilitation, marking yet another reminder of increasing human-wildlife conflicts in the region.