Meerut honeymooners staying in the town of Nainital in northern India woke up to a big surprise early Sunday.
Sumit Rathore, 31, and his wife Shivaji were not expecting to encounter this while vacationing at the Nainital Hotel. It is situated between the Ayarpatta jungle and the city. They were woken up by the sound of breaking glass around 4:45 am.
The couple discovered a broken window pane and a leopard pacing around their room.
“I was petrified to see a leopard walk into the room,” Sumit told the Hindustan Times. “I quickly covered my wife and myself with the blanket.”
Luckily, the animal was too busy exploring the room to pay any attention to them. When the leopard went inside the bathroom, Sumit seized the opportunity. He quickly locked the door from the outside.
“Even though I was shocked and scared, I quickly jumped out of bed and locked the bathroom door,” he said to the Times of India.
Afterwards, the newlyweds hastily notified the hotel security before running out of their room. The police and the forest department rushed to the hotel after owner Amit Sah called them.
“This was a young leopard which came to the hotel after being chased by dogs,” the Divisional Forest Officer of Nainital, Tejasvini Arvind Patil, told the Hindustan Times.
Mashable reported that another team of forest officials arrived an hour later with tranquilizer guns and a cage.
However, the one and a half-year-old animal escaped from the bathroom by smashing the glass ventilator before anyone could do anything. The young leopard ran back towards the jungle.
Leopard enters Nainital hotel, leaves young couple shell-shocked https://t.co/1MWKJptFsM pic.twitter.com/63G1kT2P8q
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) August 1, 2016
Sumit blamed the incident on the lack of grilles for the windows, according to the Hindustan Times. On the other hand, although Shivani was petrified, she was happy to be able to see the big cat up close.
Yet, a similar incident occurred just a few weeks ago in the same region. A full-grown Himalayan black bear entered a hotel room by smashing a window pane.
