Elusive leopard caught on camera; efforts to trap it on

After two months of effort by forest authorities, the movement of an elusive leopard was registered on a camera inside the Chengelpet forest area near here and steps are on to capture it, an official today said.
"It is an adult leopard and could be around 7-8 years old. The movement of the animal was captured by a camera trap late last night near Anjur in Chengelpet forest area," Yogesh Singh, Conservator of Forest (Chennai Circle) told PTI.
Stating that after two months of painstaking effort, only now they had evidence of the leopard's movement in the territory, Yogesh Singh said the animal was living only in its "natural" habitat.

"So far it has not strayed into human habitation. The goat it killed was on the forest fringes. We are trying to trap the leopard in the interest of the animal though it is living in its natural habitat."
Residents of localities in and around Chengelpet, about 40 km from here, had reported sighting of the leopard on different occasions in the past three months. Chengelpet's forest area is spread across approximately 20,000 hectares.
After repeated complaints, forest authorities placed eight camera traps and five cages with meat bait in the Chengelpet-Vandalur forest areas and its fringes.

Also, teams of forest personnel were deployed in spots that had a probability of the animal's visit.

The cameras were relocated continuously after scrutiny of reports of the animal's spotting.
"We are trying to trap and take the leopard to a safer forest area where there will be no chance of it getting into conflict with humans," the official added.