Authorities on Saturday launched an operation to track the leopard which attacked and killed an elderly woman at Kannayakanhalli in T. Narsipur taluk.
Siddamma was killed late on Friday evening, and though 15 camera traps have been installed apart from two cages its image is yet to be captured on camera. However, the pug marks of a leopard were found about 500 metres from the spot where the woman was killed, said Mahesh Kumar, in charge DCF of Mysuru Territorial Range.
He said about 10 km from the spot where the woman was killed two leopard cubs were found, and prima facie they appears to be that of a different leopard.
The camera traps were set around 2 a.m. and though images of civet cat and a porcupine had been captured, the leopard has not been sighted, said Mr. Mahesh Kumar.
Three persons have been killed since October 31 in T. Narsipur alone, and a two-month-long exercise resulted in the capture of a leopard after the last killing in the first week of December. Meanwhile, the Forest Department has established a temporary camp in the area and multiple teams are stationed there.
Authorities have also prepared a pamphlet and urged the public not to venture out alone or go to fields after dusk. Mr. Mahesh Kumar said the area around the village was a sugarcane belt and had provided cover for leopards to hide and stalk. Hence, he would write to the Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru to prioritise sugarcane harvesting in the region. Senior officials, including Malathi Priya, Chief Conservator of Forests, visited the spot.
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