ESCAPED LEOPARD

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12248, 21 September 1925, Page 12

ESCAPED LEOPARD

HUNTING PARTY OUT ANIMAL STILL AT LARGE TO BE SHOT OR POISONED ? ®y Telegraph.—Special to “Times.”) j AUCKLAND, September 18. t . Without bothering about warbling y “Thora” or waiting for handy hacke saws, the latest addition to the Auekn land Zoo, a female leopard which only o arrived a week ago, made a hasty and '• unobserved exit some time last Wed- >■ nesday, and since then has been at £ large. Parties of keepers, reinforced by local residents, have been scouring a the neighbourhood, but there is so I- much natural cover that if she lies e low the search is much more hopeless 8 than looking for a needle in a liayi, stack. It was thought the hunters ■' were on a hot soent this morning when e traces of some night prowler were S found in JaggePs tannery, which is t at the end of the road, and a couple ® of hundred yards fiom the main en- [{ trance to the Zoo. When the tannery J staff went to work this morning it i was plainly evident that since closing e time, last night, an animal had been s in among the tan pits and had evla dently disturbed half a tanned hide. - Judging from the spoor it was pretty s clear that the animal, which left tracks :- like a leopard or some similar beast, 1 had fallen into one of the pits which 0 was full of tanning liquor, had scramb- : led out on to a gang plank and then ■ fallen into a second pit alongside, f Then there were marks of the intruder having shaken itself and then made I off on a further voyage of discovery up i stairs and down. The wet feet marks - were traced right out to a back door. 1 “If she got into that tan pit,” said - one of the hunters this morning, ‘I m 3 thinking she has changed her colour, 0 and she must be hanging herself out 3 to dry in some parts hereabouts. s As soon as the Zoo authorities got word of the suspicious tracks a large . party was organised and the tannery l was surrounded and thoroughly searchi ed. Standing at the end of a ridge the V tannerv is practically isolated, and on 1 both sides of the ridge the ground 1 falls away rapidly. Except on the top 5 it is covered with scrub and other r ; growth forming a jungle thick enough ; to hide a whole family of leopards’. f It was thought, however, that the runaway, w'hich does not daylight and prefers to do her foraging alter 1 dark, would be sure to be lndmg under ’ the tannery buildings which, at the back are well off the ground, . quite a lot of room between it and the i floor. Two fowling pieces and a repeat- . ing rifle formed the armoury of the • search party, and in addition there : were half-a-dozen beaters not to mention three press camera men who, by r a strange coincidence, happened to \ come along just when it looked as though there was going to be a kill. , SEARCH UNDER TANNERY s “Even when you are assured that a leopard is a more or less gentle sort of animal and will not _ attack : a human being unless at bay, it must [ require a certain amount of pluck to take a torch in your hand and go rummaging] about m the dark under a tannery floor. Not quite sure of ‘ the correct attitude of leopards at bay, nevertheless, searchers dived in between a couple of broken boards and thoroughly ransacked the supposed biding place. Evidently some of them had every faith in the amiability of the missing female, for one of them had nothing more formidable than on acetylene lamp, which was not very enthusiastic as far as flame \vent, and a ti-tree “waddy” which would have been a good tiling to strike cats with. Another man was content to put his trust in a pick handle, while yet a third had a long-handled shovel. Several electric torches and an acetylene lamp were reinforced by a couple of huge home-made candles with a rope for a wick,- which are used in dark corners of the tannery. As the last man and candle went under the building the guns disposed themselves at suitable points where n disturbed leopard might he expected to make a break, hut minutes wore en and nothing happened. An English liver and white setter which belonged to one of tbe party declined to take tho matter seriously and lay down on a heap of tan refuse in the warm sun. Rv and hv the searchers came out into the daylight having found cobweb under the old building, to judge from their appearance, but there

was no sign of “the eat.” Having convinced themselves that she was not there the partv put out their randies end lamns and then went off down the slope' of the ridge on wliirh the tannery stands. There is a small creek on the eastern side and between this and the top of the ridge there is a very thick eo”er. This was well beaten and the Knglish setter even condescended to take an interest in the proceedings at this stage, working the scrub with commendable keenness, hut they never spotted a single spot. HAS A NASTY TEMPER “What would happen if they did find it. and how do they intend to catch it?” are two questions in one that has been asked more than once. As a matter of fact this particular leopard which hns escaped, has n nasty temper. She is a jungle bred animal so would not feel at all strange when she found herself outside her prison walls. Unless one happened to get her cornered :n a cave or some other similar hiding-place and got a net over the entrance, it would be hope-

less to think of taking her alive. She has a mighty spring, and before one could get near enough to try any buffalo tricks with lassoos and things of that kind, she would be well out of tho way. Barring a miracle the runaway will not be taken alive, and the only matter to discuss, if fiho be discovered, in what will be don© with the skin? That was why guns figured so largel> the hunting party this morning. In the event of not being located 1/ this evening, it is intended to lay poison for the escapee, and the nature of the country round about the tannery makes it easy to do this.