TN: Day after mauling two farmers, leopard yet to be caught

Efforts are on for the second day to capture a leopard that had attacked two farmers in Pappankulam area in neighbouring Tirupur district.

In the process of trying to tranquilise it or put it in a cage, a forest department official sustained injuries as the wild animal suddenly attacked the person during the operation, police said on Tuesday.

According to them, 60-year-old Varadarajan went to his farm in the early hours on Monday when the big cat pounced on him and mauled his shoulder.

Soon after, another farmer Maran who went to the fields to answer nature's call was also attacked by the same animal causing injuries to his face, they said. Both the men have been hospitalised.

After the attack on the two farmers, the department on Monday deployed nearly 50 personnel, including anti-poaching squads, and placed three cages with 15 cameras across the sprawling maize farm.

A medical team, sitting in a crane, is moving around the area with darts to tranquilise the animal for nearly two hours but to no avail till now, they said.

The department suspects that the leopard might be hiding in a deep bushy area or migrated to any other place in the dense forest areas in Bhavani Sagar or Sathyamangalam, police said.

The department and police issued strict warning to the residents not to come out of the house and also not to send children to play outside, they added.

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