Shimla, June 5 (IANS) The students and staff of St. Bede’s, one of India’s oldest women’s colleges, were at their wits end Saturday when they came face to face with a leopard that had strayed into the premises.
“This morning, our staff members spotted a fully-grown leopard roaming in the college corridor. We immediately informed the forest department officials,” a college teacher told IANS.

She, however, said due to vacations, no classes were being held in the college. “Some of the staff members bolted themselves in their rooms on seeing the leopard,” she said.

Divisional Forest Officer Yogesh Verma, who reached the college along with other wildlife staff, said the leopard was tranquilized with the help of a dart.

“The leopard has gained consciousness and is at the Tuttikandi rescue centre (located on the outskirts of the town),” he said.

The female leopard was about six-feet long and aged about six years.

Abhilasha Gaur, a student, said: “It was a World Environment Day gift for St. Bede’s.”

St. Bede’s has been imparting quality education since 1904 and boasts of alumni like actress Preity Zinta, late model and beauty queen Persis Khambatta and Himachal Pradesh’s first woman police officer Satwant Atwal.