With leopards and other wild animals continuing to use the defunct quarries at Talavadi Forest Range in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) as hideouts and enter the villages and hunt their prey, the forest department has requested the district administration to remove the bushes and also erect electric fence around the quarries here.
Soosaipuram, Doddagajanur, Mettalvadi and Bhimraj Nagar are fringe villages located along the border with Karnataka where many revenue canals and defunct quarries are present.
With wild animals, particularly leopards, using the quarries as a hideout and hunt their prey, the forest department placed a cage and trapped a leopard earlier this year. Since the boulders and bushes in the quarries could turn as a habitation for wild animals, the department wanted steps to be taken to remove the bushes.
Hence, K.V. Appala Naidu, District Forest Officer, Hasanur Division and Deputy Director, STR, had written letter to the Collector requesting him to direct the Department of Mines and Geology to remove the bushes in the quarries and also erect electric fence around them so that wild animals could not enter it.
A team led by S. Sivakumar, Talavadi Forest Ranger, along with other staff placed a cage at Soosaipuram village to trap the leopard and also installed automatic cameras at spots where leopard movement was frequent.
Officials asked the farmers and the people not to let their cattle or dogs in the open during night hours and also asked them to avoid moving in farmlands during night.