A few residents of Siva Nagar at Kalapatti in Coimbatore have complained to the Forest Department that they have seen an unfamiliar animal in their locality which is bigger than domestic cats.
At least three families claimed to have had close sightings of the animal which had a dark grey coat.
Following the complaint, the Forest Department staff visited the place on Thursday and opined that the elusive animal could be a jungle cat ( Felis Chaus). The staff examined the pug marks of the animal. They ruled out that the pug mark was not of a leopard.
“A woman who supplies vegetables to my family spotted the big cat three days ago in an okra field. She told me that the animal frightened her. A few others from the locality also sighted the same animal,” said N. Rangarajan of Siva Nagar.
A.M.N. Siva, forest range officer, Coimbatore, said that the animal spotted by the villagers could possibly be a jungle cat. According to the officer, the jungle cat, which feeds on birds and rodents among others, would not cause any harm to humans. Meanwhile, the Department late on Thursday decided to send a biologist to the location and examine the pugmark to ascertain the identity of the animal.
