Chennai, Aug 20 (IANS): A leopard that killed a four-year-old girl on August 10 when she had gone into the thicket of a private tea estate was captured and released into the Madhumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu on Saturday.

Forest department officials told IANS that they had installed close circuit cameras at 10 different locations surrounding the private tea estate and the adjacent forest land to capture the movement of the leopard.

On finding that the leopard was still roaming in the area, the forest department set up a cage on Friday and the animal fell into the trap and was captured on Saturday. Forest officials told IANS that the leopard was in good health.

However, some animal lovers have criticised the forest department's move to capture the leopard from the wild only to release it in a tiger reserve.

N. Sadik Ali from Wildlife and Nature Conservation Trust told mediapersons that the capture and release of the animal was unnecessary.

He said the leopard had no negative intentions towards people and that it had met the girl in a chance encounter.

He called upon the estate owners to provide proper bathrooms and toilets to the workers so that they don't frequent the thickets during early morning hours or late in the night.

The wildlife activist also said that the leopard will find it difficult to adapt to the new landscape and compete with other carnivores in the area.