Leopard attacks goat near Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: A goat was attacked by a leopard when it was grazing near the forest boundary in Thiruvalluvar Nagar on the outskirts of Coimbatore on Monday evening.
The forest department installed four camera traps in the locality and sent a letter to the chief wildlife warden seeking permission to keep a cage to capture the leopard.
R Suresh, 46, of Palaniappa layout in Thiruvalluvar Nagar was grazing his 35 goats to a piece of patta land located adjacent to the reserve forest. Around 4pm, he was preparing to return home with his goats. Suddenly, a leopard attacked a goat on its neck. Suresh ran towards the goat and raised an alarm. The leopard ran away from the place. The goat suffered injuries on its neck. Suresh took it to a veterinarian who provided medicines.
“I have lost two goats in leopard attacks in the last three months. Luckily, this goat escaped with injuries. We had informed the forest department about the movements of leopards in our locality and the killing of goats. But they did not take any step,” said Suresh.
He added that the forest department had not taken the issue as a serious one.
R Arunkumar, range officer, Coimbatore forest range, said the forest department had advised the people near forest not to rear goats.
“Goats and dogs are easy preys to leopards. People who are residing within 500 metre of the forest boundary should not rear goats. We sensitized the people many times. But they claimed that it was their livelihood. We are also working to prevent the conflict in the locality and installed four CCTV cameras,” said Arunkumar.