Pareekshith Shet
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Apr 4: Since sometime, domestic dogs have been going missing under mysterious circumstances from Kukkudakatte Kadugudde village. A group of youngsters who went searching for the cause of these disappearances, encountered a leopard duo at Kukkudakatte Kadugudde village at Kabyadi near Parkala Badagubettu panchayat.

The youngsters, although taken aback, tried to shoo away the animals by swaying their sticks. The leopards, developing cold feet at the din created by the gang, beat a hasty retreat into the forests.

The youth got information about the presence of the leopards after Sunday midnight. Those who followed the footprints of the animals could see the leopards hiding behind the bushes, their eyes shining in the dark. The forest department was informed thereafter, and the staff who came there, planned to catch hold of the animals by laying a trap on Monday morning. The forest officials said they had information about the leopard moving around TAPMI and some areas of Parkala since the last some days.

The villagers are apprehensive about these animals, as school children use the path where the leopards were found, to go to schools.

The forest department officials visited the spot on Monday morning and inspected the spot. They reasoned that the wild animals have been visiting villages and devouring animals like poultry birds and dogs as they suffer from shortage of food and water inside the forests. "As leopard problem has been acute in Hiriyadka, Sannakkibettu, Brahmavar and Padubidri, the four traps with the department here have been laid out at these places.

As the leopard that was sighted here also had come to Sannakkibettu in Badagubettu village, that trap will have to be continued to be kept there for two to three days more. At present, we do not have the facility to anesthetize wild animals here, and the same have to come from Pilikula. The government has to provide the guns and expert services to make wild animals unconscious. The forest department is short of staff. There is a need to increase our manpower. As the real estate mafia has cut down forests and made them into flat grounds and estates, forest area is shrinking, and wild animals are poaching human habitats for food," said deputy range forest officer, Dayanand.

The officials said that some locals had stolen a poultry bird placed as bait for the trap at Sannakkibettu. They have now decided to replace it with a dog.

There is suspicion that the two leopards had spent the night at the tree where they were sighted at night. In all likelihood, it is felt that they would have spent days after eating up chickens and dogs they caught, at the pond of Kabyady Nagabana about half a km away from this spot after drinking water there. The people are fearful, as the forest containing small bushes in the area is spread for a distance of six km, and it is impossible to see movement of wild animals hiding behind them.