A leopard that spread panic in the district among the villagers of Nallannur near Arepetta was caught in a trap laid by the Forest and Wild Life Department Officials on Thursday. The two and a half year old male leopard’s entrapment, which created panic among the local people here, came as a relief to the villagers. A team of forest personnel led by N.Ranjith, Range officer Mepadi, laid the trap on Thursday evening, following reports of two missing domestic animals, inside tea estates of the small village.
“The animal was fully healthy and it was suspected that the leopard had come from the Mepadi range of forests,” K.K. Sunil Kumar, Divisional Forest Officer, South Wayanad forest division said. The animal was released at the Maragaddha forest inside of the Wayanad Life Sanctuary on Friday morning after a medical examination done by Dr .Arun Zachariah, forest veterinary surgeon. This is the fifth trapped leopard released in the Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary within a year, a forest source said.
