A five-year-old male leopard, who strayed into the sugarcane field at Kavalgeri, seven kms from Dharwad city six days ago, was finally trapped in the wee hours of Sunday.
The wild cat who had given villagers and forest officials sleepless nights confronted officials on Friday but escaped into banana plantations.
The forest officials intensified combing operations on Saturday and set up six cages with bait to trap the leopard.
DFO Yashpal Ksheersagar, who led the operation, told DH that the leopard had strayed into sugarcane fields in Kavalgeri on Tuesday and was sighted by one Manjunath Uppar.
During the search operation, officials found the pug marks and excreta, confirming the leopard's presence in the village.
Over 60 forest guards were deployed in the operation and tranquilizer experts from Kali Tiger Reserve were roped in.
However in the wee hours of Sunday, the five-year-old leopard was trapped in the bone. The animal will be released into the Dandeli forest late night.
Ksheersagar also said that the excreta of the leopard collected in Nrupatunga Betta in Hubballi and at Kavalgeri in Dharwad was sent to the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology lab in Hyderabad to ascertain whether it was the same wild cat. The reports are likely to reach forest department on Tuesday.
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