Put wire mesh on safari vehicles, urge tourists to act properly: Minister

Karnataka Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar B Khandre has said that he instructed biological parks officials to install mesh on the windows and photography holes of all safari vehicles.

The minister issued the notification immediately after a leopard entered a safari vehicle at the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BNP) in Bengaluru on August 15.

The leopard had scratched a 12-year-old boy before it could be chased out of the vehicle.

BNP's leopard safari enclosure, launched last year, covers 20 hectares and is India's largest leopard safari featuring semi-wild leopards, mostly rescued from in and around Bengaluru.

Khandre said he had instructed the officials to take all necessary precautionary measures during the safari and to give appropriate warnings to tourists and to print a warning message on the safari ticket itself.