In the second such incident in three weeks, a leopard reportedly killed 15 sheep on Saturday on the outskirts of Kambadur mandal headquarters in Anantapur district.
A shepherd, Imam Saheb, told The Hindu that a leopard attacked the sheep in an enclosure on the outskirts of Kambadur village. However, the District Forest Officer, P.S. Raghaviah, said that they were yet to ascertain if the sheep perished in the attack.
On January 29, a similar incident of leopard attacking sheep took place in Roddam Locherla village in which 30 of them were killed. But the forest officials eventually found that the sheep were targeted by jackals and not leopard.
"This is the first time a leopard has ventured into the vicinity of a mandal headquarters. But they don't prey on such large number of sheep," said Mr. Raghaviah.
Conflict between man and beast, with man occupying huge tracts of forest land depriving the animals of their habitat, has become a regular feature in the district.
The lack of rains and consequently lack of water resources and green cover in the forest appears to have forced the predators to enter the human settlements bordering forests in the district.
