Live bait placed inside cage three days ago; leopard trapped in the wee hours of today

Mysore/Mysuru: A leopard, which was caught on CCTV camera installed in Sri Ramakrishna Vidyashala premises in Yadavagiri on Dec. 11 night, has been trapped in the cage placed by the Forest Department. The leopard was trapped at about 1.30 am today.

The leopard, aged about 4 years, was found roaming in the Vidyashala premises since a week. Following the leopard being caught on CCTV camera, the Vidyashala Management had informed the Forest Department about it. Though there are cows and calves in the Vidyashala, the leopard had not attacked them. It is learnt that the big wild cat used to come near a pit where seepage water gets collects, drink water from the pit and go into hiding.

Following the complaint, the Forest staff had placed a cage and camera traps were installed to monitor the movements of the leopard. Three days ago, the Forest staff had placed a sheep as live bait inside the cage. An iron separator grill was placed inside the cage to prevent the leopard from harming the sheep. Today at about 1.30 am, the leopard walked into the cage and was trapped.

Leopard Task Force (LTF) Range Forest Officer (RFO) Santosh Hugar and staff, who reached the Vidyashala, shifted the cage with leopard to Aranya Bhavan at Ashokapuram where its health was checked. It was shifted to Koorgalli Rehabilitation Centre this morning where an incision made to the ear and a microchip was implanted. The leopard will be released into its natural habitat after obtaining permission from the higher Forest officials.