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A leopard that had strayed into Junagadh's historic Uparkot Fort was captured on 4 September 2026, ending a four-day closure of the monument to visitors.
The Gujarat Forest Department placed five cages across the fort and used trap cameras, thermal drones and round-the-clock patrolling during the operation.
Uparkot sits at the foothills of Girnar hill, beside the 180 sq km Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary — a satellite habitat of the Asiatic lion and prime leopard country.
India's leopard population was estimated at 13,874 in the fifth-cycle assessment released in February 2024; the leopard is a Schedule I species and IUCN 'Vulnerable'.
Leopard sighted inside Uparkot Fort; the forest department shuts the monument to visitors and begins patrolling.
Fort stays closed for a third and fourth consecutive day; five cages, trap cameras and thermal drones deployed.
Leopard trapped; the fort is reopened to tourists after four days of closure.
Junagadh sits in the Saurashtra peninsula of Gujarat. Girnar hill rises immediately east of the city, with Gir National Park about 35 km away — together forming India's only wild Asiatic lion landscape, which leopards share.
GS Paper 3 > Environment > Conservation and human-wildlife conflict
General Awareness > Places, monuments and wildlife of India
About 180 sq km sanctuary notified in Junagadh district, Gujarat, in 2008; the closest satellite habitat for Asiatic lions dispersing from Gir.
The highest protection category under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, which covers the leopard and carries the strictest penalties.
The two ancient rock-cut water structures — a stepwell and a deep circular well — inside Uparkot Fort, Junagadh.