Fresh attack on calf by wild dog, not leopard, say Tirupattur forest officials

“It is nothing but mere imagination of locals,” sayforesters

For the past few days villagers have been claiming that they saw an animal inside the compound of a house at Arapandakuppam near Vaniyambadi and point to the bite marks on a calf as proof of their sights. Following this fear of predator gripped the region on New Year eve and the villagers spent a sleepless night.

Locals also threatened to stage an agitation, the if Tirupatthur forest personnel failed to take action immediately to trap the animal.

When asked about this, top forest officials in Tirupatthur forest division said, “There have been no sightings of the predator. When we inspected the site, there were no pug marks of the animal. The bite marks on the calf seem to be those caused by a wild dog,” they added.

Claiming that the leopard, which was spotted near a village a week ago, had gone back into the reserve forest, the personnel said, “Five teams with each having three members have been deployed in the area where it seen last. We will continue to monitor the area for a week.” In two separate incidents, the leopard earlier mauled three persons and injured another three, besides killing of a calf and 13 goats.

“Every night we prime them with live bait to attract the predator but without success till date,”officials added.