Forest dept. steps up vigil to trap elusive leopard sighted at Udhiyur near Kangeyam

: Residents in localities surrounding a reserve forest patch, a hillock spread over 376 hectares at Udhiyur in Kangeyam range, continue to live in fear of attack by a leopard even as the predator keeps hunting goats and dogs in the adjoining human habitations at periodic intervals.

Despite repeated sightings of the leopard through camera traps since February, the adult leopard - going by the analysis of the pug marks by the Forest Department - has managed to evade the four cages kept with bait at the peripheries of the reserve forest.

The Forest Department believes that the reserve forest patch with a healthy prey base of deer, civet cat, and fox, besides water availability, has suited well for the leopard to stay put in the terrain which also has got caves as ideal hiding spots.

Two days after the leopard had hunted a goat from a pen at the foot of the hillock, the leopard was reportedly sighted again on Friday in an agricultural field belonging to Bhakthivel of Kolumangudi.

The residents in the surroundings fear venturing out of their homes after 7 p.m., and are getting restless with the endless wait for the capture of the leopard, Mr. Bhakthivel said, wondering why the Forest Department has not considered darting it, and relocating it into the wild.

Before getting into the hillock, the same leopard had been sighted earlier in some reserve forest patches in Namakkal and Karur district. The animal could have moved unnotied as the agricultural lands through which it is believed to have moved were uncultivated stretches.

The department had contemplated utilising drones to monitor its movements on the hillock, but had later dropped the move since there was nowhere the animal could be chased out from the hillock.

“So far, there has been no report of confrontation with humans. We are continuously keeping a watch,” the Forest Department official said, adding that the department was sensitising the residents in the surroundings of the precautions to be taken.

The official said there was a likelihood for the leopard to be caged soon, citing its periodic movements close to the bait in the recent weeks.