The Forest Department finally had some clue to the movement of the leopard that had become elusive after its sudden entry in the Meerut city on Feburary 23. The leopard pug marks were traced on Saturday in the Cantonement Forest area over five and half kilometers
away from the place where it was last spotted. DFO Meerut Sushant Sharma while talking to "The Pioneer" confirmed that the pug marks in the forest area were that of the leopard. The Forest Department has now placed a cage in the area to trap the leopard
The DFO Meerut Sushant Sharma said that the pug marks were located by the army people in the Cantonement forest area." The pugmarks were located by the army people and the pug marks show a straightline movement from the last place where it was spotted. It is approximately five and a half kilometers away from the spot. The pug marks are those of the leopard and they also show that it is moving in the direction of its natural habitat. " said DFO Meerut Sushant Sharma. The Forest Official said that with the leopard moving towards its natural habitat the people were safe. "However we have kept a cage with a bait in the area to trap the leopard. The forest team will be sitting at a distance from the cage to monitor it because a leopard has a strong sensing power and will not come near if it senses people" he said.
The leopard that had created panic by the entering the city of Meerut last Sunday and had been untraceable after it jumped out of the Meerut Army hospital by breaking the window after a failed tranquailization attempt. The leopard had been sighted at various spots but for the last few days the forest department, army and the police had been focussing the search in the area of the Cantonement because people had reportedly spotted the leopard there. However the search had been to no avail because no pug marks were found.
A CCTV footage of a school in the Cantonement area on Friday also had recorded the footage of two animals moving in the night which was a big animal followed by the small animal with their tails twisted upwards. The forest officials had however concluded the images for those of the dogs which were moving in the school compounds and not leopard. The school had been thoroughly checked and on Saturday morning another search had been carried out.