Hyderabad: The leopard which was spotted at Katedan on the outskirts of the city on Thursday might have found a safe haven in Chilkur forest area, TS Forest Department officials believe.
The leopard was also seen near a farmhouse in the same area. When the officials tried to track it down by dogs, they led the forest officials to somewhere near Moinabad and disappeared from there.
A Forest official said, “We were waiting with baits and cage traps, apart from CCTV cameras at several locations in and around the farmhouse where the leopard had run into on Thursday morning. A tracker dog of the Cyberabad Police led us to the pug marks of the leopard in the forest area abutting the State Agricultural University towards the Chilkur forest area.”
Haneef, Public Relations Officer (PRO) with Nehru Zoological Park said, “The leopard usually walk for around 20 kilometres a day. It might have retreated into the forest area via Himayat Sagar, Moinabad and Chilkur.
“We are in constant search of leopard. The citizens could relax now as we believe the leopard has gone away from the residential areas.”
“The cages and the baits are all on place, in case the leopard returns. We are having a very keen watch on it. We believed that the leopard might have strayed into the city from the Vikarabad forest area,” he concluded.
Nihad Amani