Chennai, Nov 4 (IANS): The Coimbatore division of the Tamil Nadu forest department is on high alert after villagers of Palladum in Tiruppur district complained of spotting a leopard in their area.

Swinging into action, the forest department conducted a recce of the fields and other areas of the village where the leopard could probably be hiding. Though there has not been any complaint regarding the animal attack, the locals are worried about it attacking the school-going children and their cattle.

P.R. Ramasamy, a farmer at Palladium village, told IANS, "We are certain of the presence of a leopard in the village and have registered a complaint with the Tiruppur forest office. They inspected the fields and nearby shrubs to find out whether the animal was hiding there, However, it was not found."

He said that the forest department officials had verified the CCTV visuals of the presence of a leopard. However, when asked, a senior official of the forest department said, "We scanned the CCTV footage provided by a farmer in whose farmland the animal was seen last night. The quality of the video is bad but the animal in it did resemble a leopard. We are alert and are bringing more forest officials to track its movement and capture it."

The forest department officials, however, said that they have spoken to several villagers, who were not sure whether the animal was indeed a leopard.