Udupi, Jul 10: Personnel of the Forest Department rescued a leopardess which had got trapped in a cage they had laid for it at Pernankila village near Moodubelle in Udupi taluk on Sunday.
The people of Pernankila and nearby villages were complaining for quite some time about sighting a leopard and that some of their dogs were vanishing, which, they said, had fallen prey to wild cat.
Hence, the personnel of the Udupi Range Forest laid a trap (a cage) near the house of Shakuntala Naik near Marathi Samudaya Bhavan about a week ago. The cage had two compartments one big and the other small. To attract the big cat, they kept a dog in the small compartment.
About two days ago, the animal came close to the cage attracted by the dog, but escaped. However, in the early hours of Sunday, it entered the big compartment of the cage and it got trapped. “We received a call around 4 a.m. today saying that the leopardess had been trapped. We then went to Pernankila to bring back the cage,” said Udupi Range Forest Officer, Ramesh H.
The leopardess was brought and kept at the Range Forest Office here at around 11 a.m. It was examined by a veterinary doctor. “It is five-year-old. The veterinary doctor certified it as healthy,” he said.
The personnel of the Range Forest Office, after consulting senior officers of the Forest Department, took the animal and set it free in the Kudremukh National Park area at around 4 p.m.
“It is not unusual for a leopard to be sighted among shrubs and bushes. It normally lives in areas with bushes and shrubs on the periphery of forests so that it can catch dogs,” Mr. Ramesh said.
Meanwhile, people of the village said that there was another leopard in the area and that it too must be caught. Mr. Ramesh said that the villagers had complained about sighting another leopard and that efforts would be made to catch it.
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