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Belagavi: Month on, admin calls off operation to capture leopard
“The operation started from August 7 and was stopped as the animal was not traced in any of the trap cameras and private CCTV cameras,” DCF Anthony Mariyappa said on Sunday evening.
A month after, ‘Operation Leopard’, was organised to catch the wild cat in Karnataka’s Belagavi and remained unsuccessful, the authorities on Sunday called off the search. The authorities are yet to capture the wild animal in the district, about 500 km from Bengaluru.
Officials leading the operation said that they are calling off the search since they have not been able to spot the animal for over 10 days.
“The operation started from August 7 and was stopped as the animal was not traced in any of the trap cameras and private CCTV cameras,”deputy conservator of forests (DCF) Anthony Mariyappa said on Sunday evening.
The leopard was first spotted on August 5 when it attacked and injured a construction worker in Jadhav Nagar locality, adjoining the deputy commissioner’s official residence, of the border district. The labourer, identified as Siddarayi Mirajkar sustained minor injuries during the attack, however, his mother, Shanta Mirajkar, 65, was unable to bear the news and died due to a heart attack, said police officials in the know of matter.
“Wild animals like leopards prefer silent places to hide. When they have eaten, they do not go out on hunts for at least three to four days. The leopard in Belagavi has not remained in one place as the areas surrounding the Golf Course have a lot of noise and movement,” said divisional forest officer and commandant for the search operation Anthony Mariyappa.
The government has spent an average of around ₹3 lakh per day to fund the operation which has around 300 ground personnel, over 150 officials from forest and police department, two elephants and other resources. It has also used at least five earth mover equipment to clear the tall vegetation in a large area near the Golf Course that will give the animal fewer places to hide.
There are at least 22 schools in the locality that have had just two working days in August as a big cat on the loose has added to the apprehensions in the district.
With barely adequate equipment, the team’s effort to capture the leopard on August 22 with sticks and nets remained unsuccessful, attracting criticism from various quarters.
Assistant conservator of forest Mallinath Kusanal said that 75 forest department personnel were working in the operation from August 7, and the number was increased to more than 300 after the leopard escaped on August 22.
“It is not fair to term the operation a failure. We missed the one and only chance to capture the leopard and after that it was not seen anywhere. We definitely will succeed if we encounter the animal for the second time,” Umesh Katti, Karnataka’s minister of forests, food and civil supplies said.
The forest department has installed at least 16 trap cameras in the locality. The forest department also used the “honey trap” method in which the urine of a female Leopard is used to attract the one on the loose and capture it. So far, the method has also proved unsuccessful.
