Following the sighting of a leopard in the Forest Research Institute campus on Tuesday night, the institute administration has once again stepped up precautionary measures. While walkers are being restricted from walking on campus roads after sunset, the residents are being asked to refrain from moving out alone or in unlit places after sunset.
A leopard was spotted briefly near the scientists’ hostel in FRI on Tuesday night. The big cat was shooed away towards the forest by the institute’s security personnel. According to the FRI security officer BP Khanduri, walkers are being restricted from continuing their walks on campus roads after sunset. Those residing on the campus are being told to observe precaution and avoid moving outdoors alone in the dark and to avoid secluded unlit areas. Additionally, there are three CCTV cameras placed on the campus to record any leopard movement, he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that though leopards are known to frequent FRI and other neighbouring areas especially places near forested areas, sightings of the big cat had become more frequent at FRI since December last year when a child was injured in an accidental encounter with a leopard. Considering this, the
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education director general Dr Ashwani Kumar had chaired a meeting in December last year with officials of the institute and Forest Department. It had been decided then that an appropriate proposal as per advice of chief wildlife warden for erecting complete boundary wall of FRI campus with barbed wire fencing, flood lighting of all residential area, lopping of trees and clearance of undergrowth will be prepared and submitted to Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for allocation of funds. later a teenager was killed by a leopard on campus in March this year after which a female leopard suspected of having killed the teenager was shot by authorised hunters.