Leopard was spotted at main gate of Raja Bhoj Airport on intervening night Friday-Saturday. It allegedly entered through Raksha Vihar Colony. Airport Authority informed about the incident to the forest department. It also spotted near School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Bhauri (Bhopal).
With this incidence, once again the issue of man animal conflict has gained traction with voices being raised against wild animals venturing into residential areas, colleges, and airport. Forest department team immediately rushed there and found pug marks. However, it could not reach up to run way. But as residential colonies have been developed up to Bauri so presence of the wild animal has triggered panic among the residents.
SDO forest Ravi Khude said, “Leopard was spotted in the vicinity of Airport. Our team has launched the search operations to trace it out. It has disappeared in nearby forest.” Earlier, a tiger was spotted in premises of the National Judicial Academy, located close to Kerwa and another tiger was captured from the Nabibagh-based Institute for Agriculture Engineering.
As per forest department records, population of big cats swelled around the Kaliasot-Kerwa-Kolar reservoirs axis, a stretch of forest measuring about 60 sq km that falls under the jurisdiction of three forest divisions-Bhopal, Sehore and Raisen. While one end of this forest is connected to the Ratapani sanctuary, the other end of this forest stretch merges with a densely populated residential area of the expanding city of Bhopal along the Kolar road and the Kerwa area, characterised by institutional/ low density housing.