A male leopard which injured five people in southern India earlier this month has escaped from a zoo, sparking a frantic search for the big cat, wildlife officials said Monday.
The 45 kilogram feline squeezed out of the narrow bars of an iron cage at the Bannerghatta zoo in Bangalore city late Sunday, the chief wildlife warden of the state Ravi Ralph said.
"About 50 officials divided into six teams have been scouring for the leopard in and around the zoo and trying to trace where it has escaped by following its pug (paw) marks," Ralph told AFP.
He added an inquiry was under way to find out how the leopard managed to escape from captivity.