Mangaluru: A five-year-old male leopard, which was caught in a trap near Moodbidri, was rescued by a team comprising of forest department officials and personnel from the biological park of K. Shivaram Karanth Pilikula Nisargadhama on Friday.
The leopard is said to be out of danger and is undergoing treatment at the biological park.
An increase in the population of leopards and decrease in the number of prey and encroachment of forest land have been contributing to the frequent man-animal conflict in the region.
However, the forest department had no clue as to who laid a trap, which caught the five year old male leopard. There were two more cages at different locations, which were placed by the department following complaints from the public about leopard menace in the region.
One of the officials in the Nisargadhama told a newspaper that the leopard cannot be kept in the biological park due to space constraint. However, the decision to release it back to the wild has to be taken by the higher ups in the forest department, another official said.
