Leopard still at DRDO campus

Pune

Just as the forest department and NGO called off the search operation for the leopard, the patrolling team at the Research and Development Establishment (Engineers) reported a fresh sighting of the wild animal at 2.30am on Wednesday.

The forest department has commenced its search operation yet again on the Alandi Road campus of the Research and Development Establishment-Engineers, a premier Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory.

As the leopard was spotted on August 23, forest officers placed 20 cameras to understand the
movement of the animal. Officers also used a drone to spot the leopard but it could not be traced.

Speaking to Pune Pulse, Range forest officer Mukesh Sanas said, “For the last 11days we had deployed a team
to trap the leopard. We used drones, placed cameras as well as used sniffer dogs to ascertain the presence. Since
there was no trace of the animal from August 24 to August 30, we thought it had gone back to the forests and so, called
off operations. DRDO patrolling team has spotted the leopard movement on Wednesday morning and so, we will go back to our previous strategy, with a little modification. We will be making a set up to lay cages to trap the animal.”

Chaitraly Deshmukh-Tajane