The camera trap set up by the Forest Department at a horse farm in Thally village, where a horse was found dead on Sunday, has captured a leopard coming back for the carcass.
The farm had 19 horses and the one that was preyed on by the leopard had its legs tied up to prevent its escape. Two days after the horse was found dead, the Forest Department set up a camera trap to confirm the pug marks to that of a leopard. The camera trap had captured an adult leopard that came back to claim the carcass and feed on it.
Forest Range Officer Sukumar told The Hindu the trap was to confirm if the killing was by a leopard or a tiger. While tigers are found in the neighbouring Bannerghatta sanctuary in Karnataka, their occasional straying into the Cauvery North Wild Life sanctuary cannot be ruled out, said the ranger. This is also the first such sighting in a camera trap outside of the reserve forest. Three years ago, a leopard was sighted near a waterhole inside the reserve forest.
