Urban sprawl abetted by the constant conversion of farmlands into residential plots seems to have increased the conflict between residents and leopards.
While a leopard was sighted near a school in Siddarthanagar last week, a carcass of a calf found at Chamundi Hills on Sunday was attributed to leopard attack.
The two instances only add to a spate of leopard sightings in the last month and the Forest Department authorities are on the edge placing cages at vantage points in a bid to trap the animal.
Chamundi Hills is a natural habitat for leopards given the forest cover and its contiguity with farms and shrub jungles on the outskirts.
But new residential areas such as Vijaynagar, R.T. Nagar, Sathgalli and Alanhalli on T. Narsipur Road all the way up to Varuna are agricultural tracts converted into sites.
Contrary to popular perception, leopards have not strayed but it is human intrusion to what was once their territory and hence are being frequently sighted, according to wildlife activists.
“Being highly adaptable creatures, leopards have adjusted to the habitat change and live on fringes of the agricultural fields preying on dogs and cattle,” said D. Rajkumar of the Wildlife Conservation Foundation.
He said that, “In a survey conducted in 2012, as many as 36 cases of cattle lifting were recorded in just six months in the new residential areas within a radius of 5-km from the city.”
Besides this, sugarcane — which grows to a considerable height in fields around Mysore — provides leopards a perfect camouflage to stalk their prey.
According to K. Manu of Mysore Amateur Naturalists, with growing urbanisation, human-leopard conflict in the city is only set to increase in the days ahead.
