A young leopard was captured on Saturday amid high drama after it remained trapped for hours in a house in Karnataka's Tumakuru town.

"Experts from the Forest Department rescued the wild cat by tranquilising it around 6 pm, after it strayed into the house and remained trapped over there for over nine hours," Tumakuru Superintendent of Police Divya Gopinath told IANS on phone.

Tumakuru is roughly around 70 km from the state’s capital of Bengaluru, and is situated in southern Karnataka.

"The leopard seems to have strayed into the town from the rocky terrain at the town’s outskirts in search of food, and entered the house of Ramaswamy in densely populated Jayanagar Colony," Gopinath said.

Scared by the presence of the feline, the family members, including Ramaswamy, ran out from a back door while Ramaswamy's wife Vanajakshi and daughter Vinutha rushed into the bathroom and locked themselves in.

"Fire brigade men rescued the woman and her daughter after breaking the bathroom ventilator's grille around noon," said Gopinath. 

Even as hundreds of curious onlookers gathered outside as the day progressed, the leopard remained hidden in the house.

"Deputy Commissioner Mohan Raj alerted Forest Department officials to rush in experts with tranquiliser guns and a net to the house," the official said.

Experts spotted the wild cat as it was trying to hide in the kitchen, following which they threw water on the animal to make it flee outside.

"One of the experts then shot the animal with a tranquiliser, making it unconscious. The leopard was then netted and brought out," Gopinath said.

Ramaswamy and his family members were visibly relieved after the leopard was captured alive.

"The leopard will be taken to the Bannerghatta National Park in Bengaluru at night," a forest official told reporters after the rescue operation was completed.

IANS inputs