Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: A CCTV camera has captured a leopard roaming around a shopping mall in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city of Maharashtra, sending the forest authorities in a tizzy, officials said.
The CCTV footage, which went viral on Thursday, shows the feline wandering outside the main gate of Prozone Mall located in CIDCO N1 area of the city in the early hours of Wednesday, prompting the forest officials to launch a search operation. However, the animal has not been traced so far, they said.
The forest officials believe that this is the same leopard that was spotted in the residential areas of Ulka Nagari and Shambhunagar on July 15. The forest department had installed cages in a bid to capture the big cat.
“But the leopard has now been spotted around 5 km away from the place where it was seen earlier. It shows that it crossed the Jalna Road area that passes through the heart of the city. On Wednesday, the animal was captured on the CCTV camera roaming around at the entry gate of the Prozone Mall,” Deputy Conservator of Forest Dadasaheb Taur told PTI.
“We are trying to catch the leopard, for which we have installed cages around the mall area. But so far, the animal has not been found,” he said.
Honorary wildlife warden Dr Kishor Pathak said, “There is a possibility that this is a female leopard. She might be in search of her young ones.”
