Pulwama, Jan 16 : Residents of Wahibugh village in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district have urged authorities of Wildlife department for launching a manhunt to capture a leopard roaming in the area for the past couple of weeks.
The residents told Rising Kashmir that the leopard was sighted on 7 January at Batpora locality of Wahibugh village.
“The movement of the leopard coming out of a deserted house at Batpora was captured in CCTV,” the residents said, adding that the footage was widely shared on social media to alert villagers.
Naseer Ahmad, a local resident, said that the leopard was again captured in another CCTV ahead of Batpora walking along Newa – Pakherpora road on 12 January.
The residents said that officials of the wildlife department visited the spot and installed a cage.
“We arranged a prey and put it inside the cage but the leopard is still at large,” the residents said, urging higher authorities of the wild wildlife department to launch a manhunt to capture the beast.
A member of the Pandit community from Batpora locality said that the movement of leopards in the area has caused a scare among the residents.
“We have limited evening movement to our houses,” he said, demanding the wildlife department to launch a manhunt to capture the leopard before it can cause any eventuality.
The officials of the wildlife department said that they launched a manhunt for the leopard for two consecutive days but without any success.
“We installed a cage in the village and the villagers were asked to put a prey in it during night to lure the animal,” the officials said, advising residents to remain cautious and limit their movement during evening hours till the leopard is trapped.
