Owing to the leopard attacks claiming two lives within a span of weeks in Mysuru, deputy commissioner Dr K V Rajendra on Monday issued an order asking the sugarcane growers to harvest the crop early to facilitate the forest department in catching the wild animal at the earliest.
The order came in the backdrop of forest officers raising concerns over the sugarcane fields hindering the combing operations to catch the leopard. The forest department had launched a large-scale combing operation in T Narasipura region of Mysuru on December 2 to catch or kill the leopard.
“Ten teams of forest officials along with sharpshooters from Kodagu, experts from Nagarhole and Bandipur wildlife sanctuaries are combing the area. Each team has 10-12 members and they are searching multiple locations,” chief conservator of forest Dr Malathi Priya said.
“September to January is the breeding season for leopards. The main hindrance to the operation is the sugarcane crop, hence we wrote to revenue authorities to harvest the crop. They also responded positively,” Priya added.
The Karnataka forest department had previously issued a shoot-at-sight order against a leopard after the animal killed a 22-year-old woman in Mysuru, officials familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Priya said, “Our main intention is to prevent leopards from attacking people”. She said it is difficult to use elephants in combing operations in paddy and ragi fields so, drone cameras are being used in such areas.
“Cages have been put up in 16 places and 20 drone cameras are being used. A trap camera has been installed in the areas near Mallikarjuna hill forest and Odgallu Ranganathaswamy hill forest among other areas… though the leopard remains untraceable,” said the CCF.
She said that we have increased the combing operations near Mallikarjuna hill area where the leopard was captured on camera and have identified 43 villages under 21 gram panchayat limits where an alert has been issued.
A 22-year-old woman, Meghana, was killed in the backyard of her house by a leopard at Kebbegundi village in T Narasipura taluk of Mysuru district on Thursday. On October 31, a 21-year-old man, Manjunath, was mauled to death by a leopard in T Narsipura Taluk’s ML Hundi village. Manjunath was attacked by the leopard when he and his friends were returning from a temple.
Talking to the reporters, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai had earlier said that the compensation being paid is similar to the one given to the victims of wild elephant attacks. He said that the forest department has taken the matter seriously and efforts are being made to catch the big cat alive and release it in the forests.
“The families of those killed in leopard attacks will be provided a compensation of ₹15 lakh. The ex-gratia is similar to the one meant for the kin of those killed by wild elephants,” Bommai said.
