Sixth leopard captured on Alipiri footpath area

Tirumala: The forest department has captured the sixth leopard on Alipiri walkway in the early hours of Wednesday. It entered the cage at a nearby location where six year old girl Lakshitha was attacked and killed by a leopard on August 12.

Forest officials have been making arrangements to shift the leopard to SV Zoo park while the Operation Chirutha continues on the Alipiri footpath.

TTD Chairman Bhumana Karunakar Reddy visited the place where the leopard was captured on Wednesday morning.

It may be recalled that recently, the forest department has released the 2nd and 3rd leopards from SV Zoo park after they were cleared of attacking the girl through DNA tests. One of them was released into its natural habitat at Nagarjuna Sagar - Srisailam forest area while the other one was sent to Visakhapatnam Zoo park. The first leopard was earlier released at a deep location in the Seshachalam forest. The remaining two leopards are still in SV Zoo park as the officials are awaiting their DNA reports.

Needless to say that, The first leopard, a female approximately 4-5 years old, was trapped on August 14. Three days later, on August 17, a male leopard of about five years was captured. Subsequently, the third leopard was apprehended on August 28 near the seventh mile and the fourth leopard was captured on September 7 near the Elephant Arch close to the Alipiri footpath.

In addition to these four, another leopard was captured on June 24, following an attack on a three-year-old boy named B Kaushik from Adoni who survived the leopard attack on the Alipiri footpath on the night of June 22.