No trace of mother leopard in Tirumala: forest officials

 ANANTAPUR: The forest department has said there is no way to provide fencing  en route to Tirumala from Tirupati for the safety of the devotees on padayatra.

“The area is under deep reserve forest and the forest department is duty-bound to protect wildlife. But, necessary safety measures will be in place for the devotees reaching Tirumala by foot,” officials said.

The leopard attack on a boy at the Tirumala ghat road the other day led to worries about the safety of pilgrims in the region.

Forest official Madhusudhan Reddy told the media on Monday that the department will take necessary safety and security measures but will not fix fencing along the route.  He recalled that the boy had a miraculous escape from the leopard.

He said the forest department had caged the leopard and there was no possibility of the mother leopard being on the prowl in the area. “No such movement was found in the CC cameras,” he said, adding that the forest teams were closely monitoring the environs through CC cameras.

The forest official advised devotees to walk in large numbers, and be not in isolation, to avoid attacks from wild animals.

Referring to losses due to elephant herds in deep forest and border states, Madhusudhan Reddy said the AP forest wing has been regularly monitoring the situation with help from the forest teams of neighbouring states so as to prevent any loss of property and protect human beings from attacks.

The forest official said an income of Rs 272 crore came from the sale of 372 tonnes of red sander logs in February,  while the Centre has cleared the line for a second sale.