A leopardess was trapped on the BEML campus on the outskirts of Mysuru on Sunday. The management had raised complaints of frequent sightings of the animal.
Incidentally, this is the 42nd leopard to have been trapped by the Forest Department in the Mysuru Territorial Division comprising the four taluks of Mysuru, H.D. Kote, Nanjangud and T. Narsipura, in the last two and a half years.
The leopardess is around three years old, in good health, and had taken refuge in the scrub jungles and vegetation of the public sector unit’s vast campus that abuts Koorgalli.
V. Karikalan, Deputy Conservator of Forests, told The Hindu that the factory authorities had pleaded with the department last week to remove the leopardess from the campus. Following this a cage was set up and the big cat fell into the trap in the early hours on Sunday. The animal has been shifted to Sollepura reserve forest in Mysuru territorial division.
Leopards straying into BEML campus is a fairly common occurrence. Three of them have been captured and released into the forests in recent years. Mr. Karikalan said the scrub vegetation of the campus provides an ideal cover for the wild cats to thrive. They survive by feeding on stray dogs and other smaller mammals.
The BEML campus is spread over nearly 600 acres of land and a vast swathe of land, beyond the manufacturing units and testing tracks, lies open.
In 2012, a leopard was impaled by the iron gates when it was trying to hop over the compound and had to be extricated after being immobilised by a tranquilizer shot.
Leopards straying into factory premises in Mysuru is not new either. A few years ago another leopard had entered the Infosys campus while one more was spotted taking shelter on the defunct Mandya National Paper Mills premises at Belagola which abuts the industrial areas of Mysuru.
