The Forest Department on Thursday placed camera traps in a village near Coimbatore after a cow calf belonging to a farmer was found killed by a carnivore, suspected to be a leopard.
Officials said that a calf belonging to farmer Vivek at Kempanur near Thondamuthur was found dead in the shed on Thursday morning.
After being alerted by the farmer, Forest Department staff visited the place and examined the carcass of the calf, whoseinternal organs were found pulled out by the carnivore.
As the Forest Department staff reached the village, a section of farmers gheraoed their vehicle and demanded swift action to curb incidents of wild elephants entering villages and damaging crops. Wild elephants had caused damages in Mr. Vivek’s farm on the same night. The farmers also wanted the Department to place a cage and capture the carnivore.
District Forest Officer N. Jayaraj said the carnivore would be identified using the camera traps. Coimbatore forest range officer Thirumurugan and his team fixed three pairs of cameras at the farm on Thursday evening.
The Department has also taken a cage to the village, which they plan to place at the locality with a bait if the camera traps identify the carnivore.
Published - August 08, 2024 08:28 pm IST
