The elusive leopard which was on the prowl for the last two months in Thimbam forest of Erode district in Tamil Nadu was caught on Thursday morning.
The leopard had killed two persons, including a forester early this week. According to Anwardheen, Conservator of Forests (Erode), the five-year-old leopard will soon be transported to Vandaloor Zoo near Chennai. He said the big cat is in the best of health and there are no injury marks on his body.
The conservator told The Pioneer, “He was living on the deer population in the Satyam-angalam Tiger reserve. He has single-handedly finished 50 per cent of the deer population in the zone.
Since getting preys has become difficult, he came out to the semi-forest zone in the region and started eating the cattle,” said Anwardheen.
Four cages with live baits were pressed into service in the four sq km area where the leopard was on the prowl. “He himself had restricted his movement to the four sq km area and that made things easy for us,” said Anwardheen.
The forest official said the entire population in Thimbam cooperated with the department. “Many people saw the animal moving along the Thimbam-Bangalore road a number of times. But they played it cool which too helped as in getting him live,” he said.
Meanwhile, residents in and around Vandaloor in Chengalpet district near Chennai intensified the vigil against another leopard which was in the region. Tamil Nadu Minister for forests MSM Anandan had visited to Chengalpet for an on the spot assessment about the preparedness of the forest officials to trap the leopard.