Leopard sighted again in Hubballi; patience running out for residents

Patience is running out for the residents of Raj Nagara, Shiradi Nagara and surrounding areas as the leopard was spotted again on Monday. However, this time the leopard was much nearer to human habitation than the last two sightings.

This is for the third time that the leopard has been directly sighted by citizens and officials in the last five days.

On Monday, Anil Kumar Koparade and his family saw the leopard climbing down a tree next to their house, which is bordering the Nrupatunga Betta, at around 6:10 pm. Earlier, his neighbour claimed that he saw the big cat carrying a piglet into the bushes near Shiradi Nagar.

“The Forest Department officials are stationed at Kendriya Vidayala, and it took them more than one hour to come to our house, which is just 300 metres away,” said Anil and added that looking at the officials' plan of action they do not intend to catch the leopard unless it attacks humans.

Tens of residents of Shiradi Nagar stood guard, with sticks and logs, at the spot where the leopard was last sighted. Meanwhile, several forest officials, including Deputy Conservator of Forest Yashpal Kshirsagar entered the betta firing crackers.

“As per the rules, we can not tranquillise the leopard after dusk. So we have decided to push the leopard away from the human habitation,” said Kshirsagar.

Since morning the forest officials have been combing the forest patch behind the Kendriya Vidayala in Raj Nagara without much success. They also failed to trance any pug marks or kill leftovers of the leopard.

Watch latest videos by DH here: