20 days & counting: Despite jumbo effort, Belagavi leopard still elusive

The Forest department staff has intensified combing operations to catch the leopard that has made the thickly vegetated Golf Course in the city its home for the last 20 days.

Two trained elephants, roped in from Sakrebail, moved around the course based on the pug marks. The jumbos walked around the course and the woods. But the operation proved futile as the big cat remained elusive. A team of tranquiliser experts, however, found a carcass of pig believed to be attacked by the leopard.

A team of pig-catchers from Hukkeri, along with nets, also joined the operation on Wednesday.

MLA Anil Benake, Chief Conservator of Forests Manjunath Chavan, Deputy Conservator of Forests Anthony Mariappa, Assistant Conservator of Forests Mallinath Kusnale and other officials held a meeting with the darting teams. They chalked a plan as per the map of the Golf Course and decided on the tracks to be explored for tracing the leopard.