Indore: The leopard spotted at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore last week remains to be trapped by forest department. It is presumed to be younger than those that strayed into campus earlier to get easy access to water.
"Forests surround campus and leopard may have wandered in from there. A leopard was caught from the campus in June. A hyena has also been seen here," forest ranger TR Hatila said. The IIT campus is located 30 kilometres from Indore where students have been instructed not to move out after evening.
"The forest of Choral and Dewas district are habitat of wild animals. Sometimes, they venture out in search of prey and enter human habitat," Hatila added. The leopard, which was caught in June was 3 - 4 years old and had killed a cow in a village about 5 kilometres from IIT campus spread across 501 acres.
Though the forest department checks the cage with goat in it every morning, it is not coming close to the trap laid inside the IIT campus. The leopard was seen in CCTV camera installed in IIT campus. Leopard has been sighted for the third time in IIT campus. It is caught here every year since 2018.
‘Cage removed from Ranbhanwar near Devguradia: The cage planted to catch the third leopard in Ranbhanwar village near Devguradia has been removed after senior department officials objected to animal being caught in this manner. Two leopards were caught from here. “Wild animals move in vicinity of forest areas. It is wrong to hold them and send them to another place. The cage was then removed,” said Rajaram Kalyane from forest rescue team.
