Veterinarian removes loose leopard from home's laundry room

July 23 (UPI) -- A veterinarian in South Africa responded to an unusual call from animal rescuers seeking help removing a leopard from a resident's laundry room.

Dr. Cliff Bull of Craig View Veterinary Clinic said he was contacted Monday by the SCPA about a leopard that wandered into a resident's garden in Benoni and made threatening movements toward a worker and a dog.

Bull said he initially thought the animal, described as small, was a misidentified spotted genet, but he was soon contacted again when rescuers reported the leopard had entered a home and been found in the laundry room.

"Apparently the maid had walked into the washroom and seen the leopard, so she ran out and closed the door," Bull told News24.

Bull said he had someone distract the leopard through a window while he shot it with a tranquilizer dart from a second window.

The veterinarian said that while it's not impossible that the leopard wandered into the city from the wild, he suspects it escaped from an enclosure where it was being kept.

"It definitely wasn't as aggressive as other leopards that I've worked with, so I do have personal opinion that it was caged," he said.

The leopard was taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center for evaluation.

Wildlife rescuers in India faced an unusual situation with an even bigger cat last week when a tiger fleeing floodwaters in Kaziranga National Park wandered into a nearby village, entered a home and settled into a bed to relax.

The tiger was tranquilized and removed.