A five-year-old male leopard, which was caught in a trap near Moodbidri, was rescued by a team comprising Forest Department officials and personnel from the biological park of K. Shivarama Karanth Pilikula Nisargadhama on Friday morning. The leopard is undergoing treatment at the Nisargadhama and is said to be out of danger.
Assistant Conservator of Forests, Moodbidri, V. Kishore Kumar told The Hindu that the leopard must have accidentally entered the trap kept on a government land near Elinje village. As the leopard was caught at his waist in what looked like a noose trap, he had to be tranquilised before the release, he said.
Mr. Kumar said that following complaints from the public about leopard menace in the region, the department had kept two cages at different locations; but was not able to catch any. Range Forest Officer, Moodbidri, G.D. Dinesh said the leopard was not seriously injured. The decision to release it back to the wild has to be taken by the higher ups in the department.
Pilikula Biological Park Director H. Jayaprakash Bhandari said a team of veterinarians from the Nisargadhama participated in the rescue operation and brought the leopard to the biological park for treatment.
“This is just a helping gesture towards the Forest Department; we would not be able to keep the leopard in the Nisargadhama due to space constraint,” he said.
A proposal from the Nisargadhama to set up a permanent wild animal rescue centre is pending with the authorities for over two years, he said.
Such a centre would go a long way in wildlife promotional activities in the region that is known for frequent man-animal conflict, Mr. Bhandari said.
The Forest Department officials said they were yet to investigate the source of the noose trap which caught the five-year-old male leopard on Friday morning.
An increase in the population of leopards, decrease in the numbers of prey and encroachment of forest land have been contributing to frequent man-animal conflict in the region, just like in many parts of the State, the officer said.
