A wild leopard sauntered into the residential quarters of doctors and professors of Chamarajanagar Institute of Medical Sciences, located about 7 km from Chamarajanagar town, late on Wednesday night, giving a scare to the inmates.
But the leopard, which had reached the first floor of the residential complex, retreated through the stairs and disappeared under the cover of darkness.
CCTV footage shows the leopard racing along the corridor and going down the stairs. But within seconds it reappears, peeps inside an open door but backtracks and goes out of view again. One of the inmate who sighted the leopard alerted other residents in the quarters and the Forest Department personnel were informed who have deployed guards to patrol the area.
Deputy Commissioner of Chamarajanagar M.R. Ravi said the medical quarters abuts the Yadapura hillock and leopards have been sighted in the area frequently. He said the footage clearly shows the leopard peeping into a house which had the door open and retreating from there and it was at that point that its presence was noticed.
Meanwhile, the Forest Department has placed a cage to trap the leopard inside the campus in case it ventures again besides issuing a set of instructions for the inmates to adhere to, especially in the evenings and nights.
Manoj Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests of Chamarajanagar, said the area surrounding the medical college campus has lot of open pits of abandoned quarries and leopards from the forests tend to use them as hideouts. One of them may have strayed into the residential quarters.
The Forest Department has suggested that the open pits left abandoned after quarrying be reclaimed by filling them with soil followed by plantation. Meanwhile, other sources said the area around Yadapura hillock is a natural habitat for leopards and a slew of constructions including government buildings in this area has squeezed the leopards to the periphery, resulting in such conflict situations.
