On getting information of the presence of leopards on the campus, forest officials had set up over 30 camera traps and two metal cages around the campus.
Hyderabad: A male leopard, sighted last week on the Icrisat campus in grainy drone pictures, was trapped on Wednesday night in a cage set up by forest officials. The search is continuing for another big cat that was also spotted in the drone images.
The captured leopard, believed to be five to six years old, was said to be in good health, and was released in the Amarabad tiger reserve later in the day.
On Thursday morning, forest officials who found the leopard in the cage they had set up to trap the cage was safely shifted to the Nehru Zoological Park for a medical check-up. Officials said the leopard was found to be calm.
On getting information of the presence of leopards on the campus, forest officials had set up over 30 camera traps and two metal cages around the campus. The first images of the leopard were obtained about two days ago. The big cat was caught in the cage placed near a part of the campus surrounded by farmland which is used regularly by staff.
“It seems the leopard had been living in the area for a few months, but came to our notice two days back.” said Sridhar Rao, district forest officer (DFO), Medak. “We think it may have entered from the south-west side,” he said. “Our patrols are still checking for pugmarks of another animal believed sighted in the area.”
To ensure that the leopard was not alerted to human presence, officials sprayed cow dung mixed with water in the area near the cages and the camera traps. “Wild animals usually stay away from places that smell of humans, so we are being careful,” said the DFO.
Zoo officials confirmed that the captured leopard was healthy and has no injuries. “We gave it chicken and electrolyte water. It looked fine when it was under observation,” said a zoo staff member.
Forest teams are still watching the 3,400-acre Icrisat campus for the possible presence of a second leopard. If confirmed, it would be the first time that two leopards were seen at the same site.
Officials said camera traps had shown signs of another wild animal, but it was not clear if it was a leopard or a wild cat. “We are still checking the footage. The image isn’t clear enough to know for sure,” said the DFO.
