Driver sees a Leopard on road

Chennai: The leopard scare has grown further near Chennai with a bus driver on Friday stopping the bus near Palaveli hillock when he saw a leopard crossing the road. Forest department officials and the police were unable to trace it.

The forest department has planned to install two more cages to trap the wild animal, Chengalpet Forest Ranger A. Gopu said. Field experts on big cats and staff trained in tranquillising have been brought in from the Coimbatore forest circle with new cages and we are combing the forest area for fresh signs of it. The animal could have had sneaked into TN from the nearby Andhra Pradesh border along the Palar river basin.

A leopard can migrate easily from district to district in search of prey, but its presence in Kancheepuram district is unheard of, another forest official said. Cages with live baits were ready, and there was no question of gunning down the animal, he added.