Hyderabad: Forest officials believe that the leopard, which strayed into human habitations in the city, may have moved away to a forest area, as it has not been sighted since early hours on Monday, July 28.
The leopard was first sighted at Mulkavanam nursery, forest trek park at Chilkur, and then it was spotted at Greyhounds campus at Manchirevula village. On Sunday night, it was spotted at the Sunday Army artillery centre, Golconda, by passersby.
“We suspect the leopard moved away from human habitat back into the forest area. It was spotted at Forest Trek Park, in Chilkur Reserve Forest Block on Monday,” said a forest department official.
The forest officials believe that the leopard was roaming around in search of a new habitat for itself. “We suspect the leopard came from the Vikarabad forest area,” he added.
There are quite a number of leopards in forests spread over different mandals of Vikarabad district.
Leopard spotted in Golconda
A sense of fear prevailed among residents of Hyderabad’s Golconda after reports of sightings of a leopard at Taramati Baradari on Sunday.
The local people claimed to have sighted a leopard moving near the Musi River on two instances. A group of men had claimed to have spotted the leopard on the Taramati Baradari road. They claimed the leopard walked on the road and went towards the Musi River bed. A similar account was narrated by another group of men.
The message of the leopard sighting went viral on social media platforms. Although there is no video or pictorial evidence of it.
Leopard spotting near Hyderabad
Last week, the leopard was sighted at Gandipet village by the local people. The movement of the leopard was captured in the closed-circuit cameras in the Greyhounds police campus.
Forest officials followed the pugmarks of the animal around the sprawling campus, validating its existence. Reports suggest that the leopard could be targeting stray dogs, as a few canines have gone missing in surrounding areas.
Trap cages baited with live prey have been placed at strategic points, and other surveillance gear has been installed to monitor their movement.
A couple of weeks ago, there were reports of leopard movement in the Defence Laboratories School at RCI Balapur. The police, however, ruled out sighting any leopard there.
