A one-year-old female leopard was captured near the BEML campus at Koorgalli this morning. The feline had strayed into the campus in search of food and had terrorised the residents since the past 10 days. CCTV cameras proved the presence of the leopard and accordingly, a cage was placed.

According to forest department officials, they got a call from BEML security guards at 6 am today that they heard loud roars of a leopard from the cage. Soon, a team arrived and covered the cage with plastic sheets so that the leopard does not get disturbed seeing humans around it. Later, the animal was sifted to Nagarahole National Park.

Forest officials said that the leopard could have come in search of food from the outskirts of the city that are dominated by thick grass, a perfect place for leopards to hide. Some BEML employees had alerted the security guards about a fortnight ago that they had spotted a leopard on the campus. CCTV footages too proved the presence of the leopard and the forest department was alerted.

Officials said that a leopard travels up to 25 to 30 km per day in search of food. Following the CCTV recording of the leopard’s movement, a trap was placed near BEMEL Gate 1 and a dog was tied as bait. RFO H.K. Puttaraju said that the feline would have entered the cage in the night. “The leopardess is healthy and we will shift it to Nagarahole National Park,” he said.