MANDYA: A leopard was spotted at Brindavan Gardens and Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) Dam on Wednesday. The spotting of the leopard has created a lot of anxiety among tourists, locals and officials of the Irrigation and Forest Departments.
The officials found the leopard sauntering along the dam in the tourist area and alerted their higher-ups. The Karnataka Cauvery Neeravari Nigam has restricted tourist entry at the dam for safety purposes. For the last 20 days, the leopard is being spotted on CCTV. Locals claim that there are two leopards in the area and say that they attack stray dogs in the villages and otters in the river.
The Cauvery Neeravari Nigam and the Forest Department officials are conducting a joint operation to catch the leopard. The Forest Department officials have placed camera traps, cleaned the forested area of bushes and have set up a trap to capture the leopard.
“On Tuesday evening, locals spotted the leopard near the KRS dam’s old gate. The sighting of the leopard has caused anxiety among officials and locals. Forest Department officials have set up camera traps to monitor the leopard’s movements. The leopards have hunted stray dogs”, said Vijay Kumar, a local.