<p>The forest department officials are planning to increase the number of camera traps to trace the elusive leopard in Mallikarjunaswamy hill in T Narsipur taluk of Mysuru district. </p>.<p>Ten special teams comprising more than 100 personnel continued the combing operation on Sunday also, amid the drizzle and the chilly weather.</p>.<p>Twenty camera traps were installed when the combing operation was launched on December 2. Now, it has been increased to 30. Fifteen camera traps and 10 cages have been set up at Mallikarjunaswamy Hill near Ukkalagere, where a youth Manjunath was killed (on October 31). Besides, 15 trap cameras and three cages have been placed near S Kebbehundi (where 22-year-old Meghana was killed on December 1) and in other villages of the taluk. </p>.<p>The leopard has been sighted five times in camera traps in Mallikarjunaswamy Hill so far. </p>.<p>“It is a shy animal. Each time we find it in the cameras and take up combing operations, it is escaping fast. We are putting in all possible efforts to catch the animal,” said Kamala, DCF of Mysuru division. </p>.<p>Going by the pug marks and pictures of trap cameras, forest officers say that it could be a six or seven-year-old male leopard. </p>
<p>The forest department officials are planning to increase the number of camera traps to trace the elusive leopard in Mallikarjunaswamy hill in T Narsipur taluk of Mysuru district. </p>.<p>Ten special teams comprising more than 100 personnel continued the combing operation on Sunday also, amid the drizzle and the chilly weather.</p>.<p>Twenty camera traps were installed when the combing operation was launched on December 2. Now, it has been increased to 30. Fifteen camera traps and 10 cages have been set up at Mallikarjunaswamy Hill near Ukkalagere, where a youth Manjunath was killed (on October 31). Besides, 15 trap cameras and three cages have been placed near S Kebbehundi (where 22-year-old Meghana was killed on December 1) and in other villages of the taluk. </p>.<p>The leopard has been sighted five times in camera traps in Mallikarjunaswamy Hill so far. </p>.<p>“It is a shy animal. Each time we find it in the cameras and take up combing operations, it is escaping fast. We are putting in all possible efforts to catch the animal,” said Kamala, DCF of Mysuru division. </p>.<p>Going by the pug marks and pictures of trap cameras, forest officers say that it could be a six or seven-year-old male leopard. </p>