After 'tiger hunt', AI-generated leopard keeps Indian city on edge

Forest officials in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, barely had time to catch their breath after a tiger “attack” in Sitapur turned out to be a cover-up for an elopement. Days later, they were back on their feet, this time chasing an artificial intelligence–generated leopard that had “escaped” not from the jungle but from someone’s imagination.

The drama began in the state capital Lucknow last week when a dashcam clip showing a leopard near the Sugarcane Institute, landed in local WhatsApp groups. Soon, the city was crawling with big cats, at least on phone screens. Sleek images of the leopard popping up in neighbourhoods went viral, along with “selfies” and grainy night footage of the animal prowling deserted streets.

Parents locked up their children, schools cancelled classes, and police loudspeakers warned against venturing out after dark. “The turning point came when opposition leader Akhilesh Yadav himself tweeted one of the images,” said senior journalist Ruchi Kumar. 

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“That’s when local authorities swung into action, ordering large-scale searches and patrols.”

District forest teams fanned out across the city, combing parks and housing colonies. CCTV footage was examined, pug marks were found in some areas, and searchlights swept Lucknow’s leafy avenues. But while combing operations continued, investigators discovered that the genuine sighting had been exploited to create a flood of AI-generated fakes.

The breakthrough came when digital forensics experts spotted tell-tale signs of fakery. The leopard’s fur looked oddly smooth, shadows fell at impossible angles, and one “selfie” had lighting so perfect it could have been a magazine cover.

The trail led police to a local youth—ironically, a journalism student—who confessed to cooking up the images using AI software. 

He had reportedly shared them to impress friends and rack up followers, never expecting them to bring schools, police, and the forest department to a standstill.

Two individuals have since been detained for spreading false information. District Commissioner of Police Central Ashish Srivastava warned: “AI can be used for education and research, but using it to create panic is a crime. It disrupts public order.”

For Lucknow residents, the episode was a strange sequel to neighbouring Sitapur’s “tiger attack” hoax earlier this month, when a mother faked a tiger snatching her daughter to hide her elopement.

“First the tiger, now the leopard,” said Mohammad Idrees, a businessman from Lucknow who followed both scares. “At this rate, next week we’ll be chasing dinosaurs.”

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