The denizens of Tirumala continue to reel under constant fear of the leopard that has been frequenting their locality on a regular basis.
The inhabitants of Balaji Nagar located on the outskirts of the town abutting the thick forests have felt its presence on more than half a dozen occasions during the last fort night.
In the latest incident the movement of the beast was detected in the wee hours of Thursday at the east Balaji Nagar area when it reportedly chased a forest sambar deer and gave in after entering the locality.
Even though incidents of straying in of wild animals into the human habitats are not new to Tirumala the steep increase in their unsolicited visits have nevertheless become a cause of concern to the authorities.
On the other hand the TTD is also equally panic-stricken with the movement of the beast being felt at its guest houses, cottages and the Alipiri footpath leading to Tirumala. Even though it was initially believed that it was a single leopard that had strayed-in into the locality the pug marks collected by the authorities on different occasions specified that there were more than two leopards on prowl. Annoyed at the reports, the TTD management immediately directed its forest officials to initiate steps to capture the wild beasts.
It is against this back drop that the wild life authorities who in the first instance had set-up two cage traps in the vicinity of the Balaji Nagar area also have ferried a couple of more to be primed up at different localities being frequented by the big cats. However the authorities sounded reluctant using of any bait in the capture of the wild beasts.
Though the authorities consider location of the deer park on the seventh mile on the Tirumala footpath and domestication of live stock by the local inhabitants to be the main reason behind the visits of these unwelcome guests the growing number of incidents nevertheless emphasise the need to respect the privacy of the animals particularly those belonging to the nocturnal sect.
Even during the year 2010 when the TTD was plagued with similar trouble the wild life authorities had captured both the leopards that played havoc along the Tirumala footpath (injuring two girls) using baits and infra-red cameras (to monitor their movement even during the nights) besides restricting the trekking hours of the devotees on the footpath – an exercise that can be still thought off under the present conditions.
