Residents of Kempanur and Attukal near Thondamuthur have raised concerns over the movement of a leopard into the villages and preying on domestic animals.
R. Rajan, a resident of Attukal, had a close encounter with a leopard when he opened the door of his house around 4 a.m. on Friday. Rajan, who owns a taxi cab, woke up early as he had a client to pick up in the morning. He found a leopard on the courtyard and managed to get back inside the house quickly. His wife and two daughters were inside the house.
“I was shocked to see the leopard at close range. After hearing about leopard movement, I shifted a cow and calf to my sister’s farm. It also preyed on my dogs and cats,” he said.
Residents from the two villages had such encounters with the leopard at least five times in the recent past, said Jayaprakash, who lives in the locality.
“The carnivore has preyed on five pet dogs and three cats from the locality. It also killed a cow calf of another farmer, Vivek, earlier this month. Though the Department brought a trapping cage after the calf was killed, it is yet to be placed with a prey or meat to capture the leopard. The Department claimed that it has not obtained orders from the higher-ups. People are now afraid of stepping out and losing their lives,” he said.
According to Mr. Jayaprakash, who has 10 cows, the cattle shed was damaged by a wild elephant recently. Now, he is afraid of leopard attacks on his livestock. He added that a leopard recently hit on the door of a house on Attukal road, after it missed its target - a pet dog.
Officials with the Forest Department on Friday visited Attukal and fixed camera traps to capture images of the leopard.
