Silvester D'Souza

Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (MS)

Kundapur, Nov 13: In an incident that occurred on the morning of Tuesday, November 12, a male leopard, that was creating panic among the villagers of Achlady since the past five months, was finally caught in the trap laid by the forest department at Achlady village of Kota near here.

The villagers of Bannadi, Vaddarse and Achlady had seen a leopard roaming around in the vicinity since four or five months. This had created fear in the minds of the village folk. Though the forest department personnel had laid a trap, the leopard did not fall into it. In addition, according to the villagers, the leopard is so intelligent that it does not use to come into the villager area till 10 to 15 days after laying the trap for it.

On the morning of Tuesday, November 12, a woman had sighted the leopard. The leopard, out of fear, had gone into a nearby drain. The forest department officials were contacted immediately by the locals. Brahmavar sub zonal forest officer Jeevandas Shetty and personnel arrived on the spot and fixed wooden planks on one side of the drain and installed net and cage on the other side and caught the six-year-old male leopard.

Medical check-up of the leopard was done under the leadership of veterinary doctor of Saibrakatte Pradeep Kumar N K. Later, it was released in the Mookambika forest sanctuary according to the information given by forest officer Jeevandas Shetty. Personnel of Udupi forest department Gururaj, Shivappa Naik, Suresh and Devraj Pana took part in the operation.