As if it isn’t hard enough keeping an assembly plant going these days, what with the chip shortage and other disruptions.
But it’s pretty rare that an assembly plant has to shut down because a jungle cat is loose on the factory floor.
Yet that’s what happened last week when a 3-year-old male leopard wandered into the Mercedes-Benz plant in Chakan, India. Factory workers, according to The Drive, freaked out in the appropriate manner and evacuated the premises. Usually, they are making an array of models with three-pointed stars, from the GLA and CLA to the C-Class, S-Class and Maybach S 560, according Autoblog.
Not that leopards are uncommon in those parts: They are plentiful in nearby forests. But with their habitat rapidly shrinking, according to Wildlife SOS, there have been increasing incidents of big cats seeking food in more human spaces.
Wildlife SOS sent two veterinarians and two other members of its rapid-response unit to sedate, examine and remove the big kitty. Since it was otherwise uninjured, they released the leopard back to the forest.
Such an incident may be unusual, but according to The Drive, it is not unique: In 2017, a leopard got into Maruti Suzuki’s massive million-vehicles-per-year plant and roamed about for a day and half until it, too, was captured and released.
