For the fifth consecutive day, the Forest Department on Friday continued its efforts to capture the leopard, which had sought shelter inside an unused warehouse at B.K. Pudur in the city.
District Forest Officer of Coimbatore Forest Division T.K. Ashok Kumar said that only around 20 Forest Department personnel were deployed near the warehouse. They were stationed at a distance to reduce human movement around the building, which could enable the leopard to step outside and get trapped in the cage.
The leopard approached the opening of the cage placed at the warehouse’s entrance three times in the early hours of Friday, he said.
Despite being trapped inside the building for five days, it appears to be active and healthy, according to Mr. Kumar. “Leopards can survive for 15 days without food,” he noted. The carnivore is being monitored round the clock using six CCTV cameras, the DFO said.
