Singareni may use drones to trace leopard movement

As scare spread over the reported movement of the wild cat, RG-I general manager K Narayana and other officials visited GDK-5 incline bunker, filter-bed and other localities where the movements of leopard were reported

Peddapalli: Singareni officials are contemplating to use drone cameras to trace the movements of a leopard, which is believed to be in Ramagundam-I area in the last few weeks.

As scare spread over the reported movement of the wild cat, RG-I general manager K Narayana and other officials visited GDK-5 incline bunker, filter-bed and other localities where the movements of leopard were reported. He said if necessary, drone cameras would be used to trace the leopard movement and hoped that the wild animal would be tracked soon.

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However, the forest officials made it clear that it was not possible to trace wild animals by using drones. Speaking to Telangana Today, District Forest Officer, Raviprasad said leopard would hide if it heard the sound of a drone. So, it was not possible to trace the wild animal with the help of a drone. Moreover, the Forest Department never used drones to trace the movements of wild animals, he said.

The DFO said it was not possible to confirm the movement of leopard without getting the picture of the animal. Pugmarks give 80 percent accuracy. Since pugmarks of leopard were small in size, they (pugmarks) would match with other animals such as wolf, fox and jungle cat. So, it was not proper to conform it as a leopard, he said.

Since the rumors have spread, local MLA Korukanti Chander conducted a meeting with forest officials on January 3. Based on MLA’s instructions, forest officials installed CCTV cameras in six places where the movements of leopard were found. It may be recalled here that fishermen found two leopards near a filter bed on the outskirts of Mallapur village of NTPC on January 2.

In the last week of December, two dogs were killed by a leopard near 1 Incline coal mine. Few days later, a Singareni worker saw a leopard near 11 Incline mine.

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