TIRUPATI: Staff and students of Sri Venkateswara Agriculture College are in a tizzy after they sighted pugmarks of a leopard on the university premises here on Sunday. College staff immediately alerted Forest Department officials, who have reached the spot and collected samples.
Eyewitnesses, including night watchmen, saw the leopard and two cubs moving around between the university campus and the nearby forest area. They said for the past two nights, the three wild animals have been coming out from the forest into the agriculture college premises before returning.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Tirupati divisional forest officer (DFO) M. Hima Sailaja said a team of forest officials are maintaining a watch on the varsity campus and its surroundings. She confirmed that pugmarks found inside the university campus are that of a leopard. She said the leopard might have trespassed into the varsity premises during the late hours of Friday or Saturday.
Forest officials suspect that animal to be a mother leopard, which may have deviated along with her two cubs from their regular trails in the forests. They might have trespassed into the human habitation looking for stray animals, such as cows and dogs, which usually roam across the varsity premises.
"We have requested staff and students at the campus to avoid venturing out after dark to avoid human-animal conflict. As a precautionary measure, we have also suggested to the college management that they increase lighting at the campus, clear overgrowth, ensure waste management and preventing stray animals from roaming across the varsity premises. Besides, our patrolling parties will maintain surveillance," the DFO maintained.
