Tirumala: Forest department officials have revealed that five more leopards have been spotted in the vicinity of the Tirumala-Alipiri footpath. The leopards have been recorded on trap cameras in the vicinity of Tirumala's seventh mile, Namalagavi and Lakshminarasimhaswamy Temple.
This is a cause for concern for the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) and Forest Department, as it increases the risk of leopard attacks on devotees. The TTD and Forest Department will be holding a review meeting on the safety of devotees at Tirumala Annamayya Bhavan at 3 pm today.
On Monday morning, a leopard was trapped in a cage set up at the seventh mile of the Tirumala-Alipiri footpath. The leopard was slightly injured while being trapped in the cage and is being treated at Sri Venkateshwara Zoo Park. The forest department officials will test the leopard to see if it is a man-eater.
TTD Executive Officer A. V. Dharma Reddy, said that a decision has to be taken on where to release the captured leopard. He said that the safety of devotees is their top priority and they will take all necessary measures to protect them from leopard attacks.
