Silvester D’Souza

Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (MS)

Kundapur, Mar 10: Operation Cheetah, which was held as a leopard tried to prey on a domestic dog owned by Arebailu Satish Devadiga, a resident of Maladi under the Tekkatte grama panchayat on March 8 night, was successful on Friday, March 10 in the morning and the seventh leopard was caught.

Leopard menace has been continuing relentlessly for the past four years in the mango orchard that lies in the area which is close to a residential place, school, anganwadi centre and the Sri Nandikeshwara temple at Maladi under Tekkatte grama panchayat limits. Forest officials had captured the sixth leopard on Sunday in the same area.

The forest department personnel had kept a cage on September 8 in the same area. Kundapur zonal forest officer Kiran Babu, deputy zonal forest officer Uday, Tekkatte grama panchayat vice president Sanjeeva Devadiga and PDO Sunil visited the spot.

Leopards have been attacking continuously on domestic animals and have also been inconveniencing the public in broad daylight. In August 2018, a leopard got trapped in the cage in a farm at Malady. Later, the leopard was seen now and then and six leopards were caught between October to December 2022.

Locals of Maladi are now panicking and it is a mystery as to why so many leopards loiter around in this area. There are more than 50 houses in the vicinity apart from the government school, Anganwadi centre and a temple. In addition, dangerous black leopards are also spotted in this area.