Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu) [India], June 8 (ANI): The 5-year-old injured leopard which was caught by the forest department was released inside Mudumalai Tiger Reserve forest buffer zone on Saturday after a medical examination by the Forest veterinary surgeon MTR, forest department officials said.
Leopard movement will be monitored by the MTR team as per the orders of the field director of MTR.
Earlier the injured leopard was caught by the forest department after it was spotted wandering around with an injured leg for more than five days in the area near Gudalur in the Nilgiris district.
The forest department received the information from locals that a leopard with leg injuries had been roaming around for the past five days. The locals demanded that the leopard be caught in a cage, and the forest department put cages in two places.
The Forest Department led by the Gudalur District Forest Officer Venkatesh Prabhu and ACF Karupiya, Gudalur Forest Guard Radhakrishnan and Vanavar Kumaran went to the Devan Estate Anju temple area where the leopard was trapped in a cage on Saturday morning and the leopard was later let into the dense forest area near Gudalur.
MTR forest officials said, "At Devan estate, on June 6, we received information from the local estate people, regarding a leopard frequently entering into habitations and creating panic. Our forest team reached the spot and for the past two days leopard movement was monitored by a team of 25 staff including the Rapid Response Team. Camera traps were deployed."
Under Chief Wildlife Warden's (CWLW) orders a cage was placed and the leopard was captured this morning around 7 am physical examinations were done by the Forest veterinary surgeon, MTR. (ANI)
