Forest Department fixes camera traps in residential area near Coimbatore as pets go missing

Forest Department sets up camera traps in Coimbatore residential area to investigate leopard preying on pets.

The Forest Department on Monday fixed camera traps in a residential area at Kuniyamuthur near Coimbatore to check whether a wild animal, suspected to be a leopard, was preying on pet animals such as cats and dogs.

Department staff from Madukkarai range of the Coimbatore Forest Division visited residential areas, namely J.J. Nagar and Abhirami Nagar, on Monday after Nature Conservation Society’s president N.I. Jalaluddin complained that a leopard could have killed the pets.

The staff checked abandoned and unused buildings, sheds, warehouses and bushes in unused lands in the locality. However, they did not find any trace of a wild animal. However, the staff found an old pug mark of a feline species, possibly a leopard, near J.J. Nagar.

Madukkarai range officer R. Arun Kumar said that two pairs of camera traps (four cameras) were fixed at J.J. Nagar. The official added that the staff could not find any fresh pug marks or other traces of leopard or other carnivore in the locality.

In January 2022, the Department had captured a leopard that holed up in a warehouse at B.K. Pudur near Kuniyamuthur. Another leopard was captured from Gandhi Nagar near Madukkarai In January 2021.