Leopard scare in Sirumugai

Coimbatore: Forest department officials in Sirumugai are planning to place a cage to trap a leopard, which has spread panic in villages on the forest fringes.
Villagers of Chittepalayam, near Kovilmedu, had spotted the big cat, which killed a goat, on Wednesday. They demanded that the forest department catch and relocate the animal.
Forest department officials combed forests near Kovilmedu, Chittepalayam, Sambaravalli and Thengalkaradu among others from Thursday morning to find the leopard. “We had placed camera traps to find the animal. None of the forest officials had seen the animal even once till Thursday night,” said district forest officer D Venkatesh. “Since the area is dry, we could not find pugmarks of the animal.”
A few months ago, forest department officials had successfully caught a leopard and relocated it to Sathyamangalam.