Leopard that injured 2 returns to Kolli hills

TRICHY: After a lone leopard ventured into a hamlet in Thuraiyur injuring two people on Saturday, the camera traps fixed by the forest department captured the wild animal returning to the forest giving much relief to the locals. A leopard has been spotted in the region after nearly six years.
Hiding in a small hillock near Koneripattu in Angiyam village, the wild animal had injured Hari Baskar, 20 and Duraisamy, 59, who are under treatment in Namakkal government hospital.It had attacked the duo after they tried to go near it to take a selfie. The animal attacked them in panic and went back to the caves in the hillock, according to senior staff of the forest department.
Movement of people was brought down in the area by deploying staff including police personnel as the animal could enter residential areas if it panics. Street lights were put off and people asked to remain indoors during the night. While the forest department suspected it to be a leopard after examining the pug marks and statement from the locals, it was captured by one of the six camera traps set up at the location by the forest department in the night.
“As we expected, the leopard came out in the darkness due to human movement and went back into the forest in Kolli hills from where it had come,” said S Ramasubramanian, chief conservator of forests, in-charge of Trichy forest circle. About 10 field-level forest department staff are camping in the village to monitor it. The leopard usually doesn’t return, especially after such incidents, he said.
It was in 2015 that a leopard was spotted in the same region and was captured and sent to Anamalai Tiger Reserve. Unlike tigers which require larger prey like Indian Gaur, sambar deer or spotted deer for survival, leopards can thrive on peafowl, rabbits and small mammals, he said.