TN: Leopard captured after attacking goats in Coimbatore's Onapalayam area

Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 11 (ANI): Forest officials on Tuesday said that they have successfully captured a leopard which had attacked four goats at the Chinnaswamy Gounder Estate in Onapalayam area of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, a day ago.
According to an official release from the Forest Department, Coimbatore, the incident occurred early in the morning, when the leopard entered the estate on Siruvani Road and took away the goats.
Upon investigation, forest officials found footprints, and following orders from the Chief Forest Conservator, the Field Director of Anamalai Tiger Reserve, and the District Forest Officer, a trap was set up at the site and monitored with an automatic camera.
The leopard was located in a newly built house in the Poochiyar Bhupathi Raja Nagar area of Onapalayam on the night of March 10 at around 11:35 pm.
Forest department personnel, along with the Anamalai Tiger Reserve Forest Veterinarian, carefully monitored the leopard's movements and successfully captured it using a trap net before securing it in a cage.
The Coimbatore Forest Department confirmed the successful capture and assured the public of continued vigilance in ensuring wildlife safety and human-animal conflict resolution.
Earlier in a similar incident of human-animal interaction in Uttar Pradesh, a leopard entered a wedding ceremony at MM Lawn on Budheshwar Ring Road in the Para police station area in UP's Lucknow, an official said.
The feline made its entry at 11.40 PM on Wednesday, after which, the forest officials rescued the leopard after four hours. SDO Mohanlalganj and three doctors arrived immediately at the venue.
Lucknow Divisional Forest Officer Sitanshu Pandey said, "It took almost 4.5 hours to rescue the leopard from the MM Lawn Guest House. SDO Mohanlalganj and three doctors arrived here immediately. Around 203 people were present at the venue. One person from the forest staff was also injured, and he has also received treatment."
Because of the dense forest around the area, the leopard strayed into the wedding venue. "There is a huge dense forest above Malihabad, which has mango trees. Beyond that, there are also Lakhimpur Kheri, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve and Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. Since the leopard is an agile animal, it could have come from anywhere," Pandey said. (ANI)