Leopard spotted and panic prevailing in Nandipahad village under Maddur mandal

The incident occurred around 7 p.m. on Monday when shepherds took the goats for grazing. Spotting the goats, the leopard surfaced suddenly and tried to attack a goat. As it managed to escape, the leopard attacked two kids and was trying to drag them into the forests.

Narayanpet: Panic spread in Nandipahad village under Maddur mandal in the district after a leopard attacked a couple of goats last evening and fled away into the forests with one.

The incident occurred around 7 p.m. on Monday when shepherds took the goats for grazing. Spotting the goats, the leopard surfaced suddenly and tried to attack a goat. As it managed to escape, the leopard attacked two kids and was trying to drag them into the forests.

In the process, farmers P Ramulu, B Raju and B Shantappa noticed the leopard. It left one kid on the spot and fled with the other into the forests. The farmers claimed that they had spotted two leopards.

However, forest officials said that despite appealing to the farmers and shepherds not to venture close to the forest boundaries, they take the cattle for grazing. Generally, leopards attack stray dogs but with availability of goats and other prey in close quarters, they tend to attack them, said a forest official.

Soon after learning about the incident from villagers, a team of officials reached the village and scanned the entire area. Pug marks of one leopard were detected and taking no further chances, a cage was set up to trap the leopard in the night. On Tuesday, another cage would also be set up, he said.

Since the last four months, leopards’ movement had come down in the region but sightings had increased during the last two weeks. They generally do not attack human beings and tend to move around in the late evenings and nights, he added.