News about a leopard terrorising villagers and villages from Vandalur to Chengalpattu near Chennai since May is the most sought after “commodity” in Tamil Nadu. Journalists from electronic media have been spending sleepless nights for the last two months with the sole objective of becoming the first one to break the news about the trapping of the elusive leopard. Till Thursday, the animal has been content with the occasional goats he stole from the villagers and the stray dogs which dare to cross his path.
Trailing the big cat has become a battle of nerves for the forest staff trying to cage the animal while the leopard is engaged in a battle of wits with the camera crew of 24X7 news channels. The hide and seek game played between the leopard and the TV journalists reached a new phase on Tuesday with the former making it known to the “news hunters” what is on in his mind.
Two forest officials from Chengalpattu range set on a trekking mission to the villages surrounding the Vallam Reserve Forest on Tuesday morning with the objective of increasing the number of cages installed in the outer region of the forest. The leopard is a regular visitor to these regions and many villagers have spotted him many times either quenching his thirst from a pond or chasing goats reared by the locals.
The forest team, consisting of a forester and a guard, were carrying camouflaged cages with fresh meat to be installed at new spots. They were joined by a “bold” camera crew from one of the local Tamil news channels who thought of giving programme producers of Discovery and National Geographic Channel a run for their money.
Though the forest officials tried to dissuade the adventurous cameraman and the reporter, who were out to capture the rare and exclusive moments of the leopard being caught “live”, they scoffed at the former and joined the trekking expedition for an eye-to-eye contact with the big cat.
Hardly two km into the walking, the team was terrorised by the deep-throated loud roar of the leopard which has been hiding somewhere nearby. The foresters have been trained to meet such situations and hence, they were not shocked by the leopard's roaring. But the cameraman and the reporter took to their heels to escape from the cold blooded stare of the big cat. “We saw these two galloping towards us in a pace which would have fetched India a medal in the just concluded Commonwealth Games”, said Murugan, a local tea vendor.
last heard, TV channel crew members have decided not to venture out into the “leopard territory” unless he is trapped by the foresters. From the department of forest, A Gopu, Range Officer, Chengalpattu has declared that the leopard would be caught live “soon”.