Drone to monitor leopard movement

Coimbatore: The district forest department on Wednesday deployed a drone at Kalaiyanur village to monitor a leopard that was on the prowl in the area for the past couple of days.
According to the local farmers, the leopard has killed six goats and a few pet dogs. The latest attack on the livestock was reported in the early hours of Wednesday, when the leopard killed two goats that were reared by Mahesh Prasath, a resident of Nanjundapuram, at his farm at Kalaiyanur.
Prasath, who also lost his pet dog to the carnivore, said, “The leopard killed one goat around 1am on Wednesday and left the place. It then returned to my shed around 4am and killed the second goat.”
He said the leopard had lifted a goat from the adjacent farm two days ago. “The carnivore killed three goats of another farmer from Kalaiyanur last week.”
The leopard had mauled a cow in the village some days ago.
Prasath and other farmers urged the district forest department to place cages to trap the leopard at the earliest.
Kalaiyanur falls within the limits of Coimbatore forest range. A senior forest officer said a team of forest staff was deployed at the village. They would monitor the leopard using the drone.