2nd leopard on 'B'luru rounds'

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Another leopard has been sighted, this time near Chikka Tegur off NICE Road in Bengaluru, triggering yet another search by forest department officials.

The development comes four days after a 12-year-old adult leopard was killed near Kudlu Gate by authorities after it injured three people.

Forest department officials had said back then that there was a possibility of a second smaller leopard roaming in the same area due to the presence of another set of smaller pug marks.

On Saturday evening, residents of Chikka Tegur spotted the leopard near the local Lakshmi Devi Temple. By Sunday, forest officials had launched another search and it has been confirmed that a trap has been laid for it.

The big cat may get relocated if it is caught since this is usually the case. There is no indication that this leopard, like the first one, has injured people.

However, wildlife biologists disagree with the manner in which these leopard sightings are phrased by the authorities. Bengaluru has grown in the past decades.

The phenomenon known as urban sprawl has swallowed up swathes of wilderness, they contend.

Site owners to pay up for garbage dumping

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath announced on Sunday that anyone who allowed garbage to be dumped or thick vegetation to grow on their vacant sites would be fined Rs 500 to Rs 1,000.

The move comes in the backdrop of a leopard sighting near Kudlu which was shot dead.