A leopard strayed at a wedding venue in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow on Wednesday. The incident created chaos and panic among the guests who were seen running for their lives. The leopard forced the groom and bride to take shelter in a car. Videos of the incident went viral on social media. 

The incident took place at MM Lawn on Budheshwar Ring Road in the Para police station area in Lucknow at around 11.40 pm on February 12. The forest department rescued the leopard after four hours.

The feline also snatched a cop’s rifle when they approached to rescue the animal. In the video, the big cat is seen attacking the cops who reached the marriage lawn after receiving information about its presence.

Crazy visuals from Lucknow, UP where a leopard gatecrashed a wedding at a marriage lawn. A team of forest dept and local police, trying to contain the situation, was caught off guard with two consecutive attacks by the leopard which snatched a rifle. pic.twitter.com/ehfuBvcC51

— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) February 12, 2025

Lucknow Divisional Forest Officer Sitanshu Pandey said, “It took almost 4.5 hours to rescue the leopard from the MM Lawn Guest House… SDO Mohanlalganj and 3 doctors arrived here immediately… Around 203 people were present at the venue. One person from the forest staff was also injured. He has received treatment… There is a huge dense forest above Malihabad which has mango trees. Above that, there is also Lakhimpur Kheri, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve and Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. Since the leopard is an agile animal, it can come from anywhere.”