Elusive leopard at Himayatsagar

The leopard that caused a stir on Thursday near the Katedan industrial area in Mylardevpalli is learnt to have made its way towards Himayatsagar on Saturday, forest department officials said.

“The leopard was spotted by some people near Aziznagar in the morning. There were also reports of it being seen by the Himayatsagar. Since the area offers a lot of space for the animal to move around and has abundant prey such as peafowl and hares, we hope it will not return to human habitations,” a forest department official said.

Incidentally, the Murugavani deer park, a scrub forest patch, is very close to Aziznagar where the leopard was reported to have been spotted by locals.

Officials hope that the leopard will stay put in the scrub and rocky areas and no longer pose any danger to people.

From Page1 It is believed that moving during night on Friday through some thickly populated residential areas, the leopard made its way to a more conducive habitat around the Himayatsagar. “Leopards are extremely adept at staying hidden and it is not surprising that it moved either through residential areas or by them without anyone noticing it. In fact, the leopard that had stayed put in ICRISAT last year in June had moved away from that campus and went into the Telangana State Police Academy near Himayatsagar as was established from camera trap images of the animal,” the official said. The ICRISAT leopard was subsequently trapped in a cage and later released in the Amrabad tiger reserve in Nagarkurnool district.