BENGALURU: With four humans killed by a leopard in Tumakuru district, forest officials are struggling to identify the ‘right animal’ in their massive hunt to capture the killer.

Although three leopards have been trapped from the affected locations, none of them is found to be responsible for the killings. According to district forest officials, there are four “resident leopards” in the affected 5-6 villages and one of them has turned dangerous after tasting human blood for the first time when it killed one Lakshamma in October last year.

As panic set in, people of the villages say they fear to go to their fields after dusk, even as the forest minister gave directions for ‘shoot at sight’. However, the forest department is carrying out operations adhering to the protocol and formed a team that includes wildlife vet Dr Murali and wildlife expert Sanjay Gubbi who joined it after the second killing. Two elephants - Krishna and Ganesha - from Nagarhole have arrived for the combing operations in the area marked by wetlands and thick lantana bushes.

Tumakuru deputy conservator of forests (DCF) H C Girish said, “Till date, we have not been able to pinpoint the leopard responsible for the killings. It’s an emergency situation as it is a question of human lives and locals are disturbed. We have done everything to identify the right leopard and sent all the samples to Hyderabad. We hope to get results in 20 days. After every killing, vets have collected samples. We are open to suggestions if somebody can volunteer to help us in identifying the leopard.”

“We have found in our camera trap images that four leopards are active in an area of 3-5 sqkm and one of them is the ‘right animal’ as it has turned dangerous in the last five months. Every killing has been thoroughly studied,”
he said.

Camera trap images have shown a population of 12 leopards in an area of 20 sq km. The region has revenue villages with patches of scrub forests and thick lantana bushes as also eucalyptus. These are not protected areas and the forest department has no jurisdiction over them. The leopards have lived, bred and survived amid people for a long time now, according to experts.

Why has the conflict arisen now? The first killing took place when Lakshamma was amid bushes and sheep were grazing with dogs keeping a watch. This was a situation where a leopard hiding in the bushes might have jumped seeing an easy prey - sheep and dog. But accidentally, the old woman became a prey and the leopard turned killer ever since tasting human blood. Now it has become bold enough to come near people, houses, schools and anganwadis. In all the incidents, livestock involvement has been seen and even in Chandana’s case at Baichanhalli, the leopard was waiting to lift cattle tied outside the house, forest
officials said.

Out of the three leopards that have been trapped, two were sent to Bannerghatta rescue centre and the other was released in Bandipur.  

The forest department which is carrying out combing operations has also taken up awareness campaigns by distributing pamphlets asking people living in the villages to take precautions, not to tie cattle outside and to remain alert till the right animal is captured. It is a wait and watch situation for both the villagers and officials.

Leopard kills

Oct 17 : Lakshamma (60), Banikuppe
Nov 29 : Anandaiah (60), Doddamaralvadi
Jan 9 : Samarth Gowda (5), Manikuppe
Feb 29 : Chandana (3), Baichanhalli