Couple woken by leopard in hotel room

A leopard broke into a hotel room and terrified a couple holidaying in a northern Indian town, officials say.

New Delhi - A leopard terrified a couple holidaying in the town of Nainital in northern India after it broke into their hotel room, officials said Monday.

Sumit Rathore and his wife Shivani were woken by the sound of breaking glass and discovered a leopard walking around their room in the early hours of Sunday, Nainital forest ranger Pramod Tiwari said.

The big cat, that had broken a window pane to get into the room, entered the bathroom moments later.

"I quickly covered my wife and myself with a blanket as I saw the leopard enter the bathroom. I rushed to close the bathroom door and called the hotel management," Sumit Rathore told the Hindustan Times.

A forest department team was dispatched to trap the leopard but it jumped out through the bathroom ventilator and escaped into nearby forest before the team arrived.

Leopards and other wild animals often stray into cities and towns in India, sometimes attacking people.

In February, a leopard that had strayed into an empty school near Bangalore, injured three people before it was captured.

DPA