A
jungle cat (left) was mistaken for a leopard and sparked panic among
the residents in Vidyanagar, a village about 80 km from Mangaluru
Rumours of missing dogs and chickens sparked fears that leopards had moved into the area
Villagers near Saraswathi School in Vidyanagar, about 80 kilometers from Mangaluru panicked after a rumour spread that leopards were spotted in the area. The rumours spread like wildfire thanks to WhatsApp, especially in the wake of an increase in leopard sightings in recent days all over the state.
According to sources, a lady spotted 'leopards' near her house and informed her son who immediately captured them on his mobile phone. This was then circulated on WhatsApp. This led to several stories being churned out about chicken and dogs going missing from the area. People started claiming that they spotted leopards two days ago at various locations.
When Kadaba Gram Panchayat President got to know about the leopards, he immediately called forest officials and requested them to trap the cats. The search operations then commenced, with the public's assistance.
Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, Dr Dinesh Kumar Y K, Assistant Conservat-or of Forest, Subrahmanya Sub-Division, Sullia said, "We first got the news that tigers were spotted and it was difficult to believe. We were then informed that leopards were sighted. Since the area is close to the forest area, we could not ignore this.
The region does not have a large leopard population when compared to the Hebri-Karkala region. We began investigating only to find out that the animals sighted were not leopards, but a pair of jungle cats. Jungle cats have been sighted in the area earlier as well," he said, adding, "The region generally has problems with elephants but not leopards."
About two days ago a jungle cat was killed near Bantwal, after it was hit by an autorickshaw.
Another official from the department, Praveen Shetty, said the jungle cats were spotted between 6-6.30am on Saturday.
"The video shot by the boy is of poor quality. However, it looked like they were mating. Later, one of our staff spotted one of them. The other ran into the wild. We brought a book and showed the boy pictures of a leopard as well as jungle cat. He identified the jungle cat.
These cats feed on chicken," he said.
source
Villagers near Saraswathi School in Vidyanagar, about 80 kilometers from Mangaluru panicked after a rumour spread that leopards were spotted in the area. The rumours spread like wildfire thanks to WhatsApp, especially in the wake of an increase in leopard sightings in recent days all over the state.
According to sources, a lady spotted 'leopards' near her house and informed her son who immediately captured them on his mobile phone. This was then circulated on WhatsApp. This led to several stories being churned out about chicken and dogs going missing from the area. People started claiming that they spotted leopards two days ago at various locations.
When Kadaba Gram Panchayat President got to know about the leopards, he immediately called forest officials and requested them to trap the cats. The search operations then commenced, with the public's assistance.
Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, Dr Dinesh Kumar Y K, Assistant Conservat-or of Forest, Subrahmanya Sub-Division, Sullia said, "We first got the news that tigers were spotted and it was difficult to believe. We were then informed that leopards were sighted. Since the area is close to the forest area, we could not ignore this.
The region does not have a large leopard population when compared to the Hebri-Karkala region. We began investigating only to find out that the animals sighted were not leopards, but a pair of jungle cats. Jungle cats have been sighted in the area earlier as well," he said, adding, "The region generally has problems with elephants but not leopards."
About two days ago a jungle cat was killed near Bantwal, after it was hit by an autorickshaw.
Another official from the department, Praveen Shetty, said the jungle cats were spotted between 6-6.30am on Saturday.
"The video shot by the boy is of poor quality. However, it looked like they were mating. Later, one of our staff spotted one of them. The other ran into the wild. We brought a book and showed the boy pictures of a leopard as well as jungle cat. He identified the jungle cat.
These cats feed on chicken," he said.
source
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