Villagers warned of leopard movement in STR

The leopard was spotted by P. Kumar (38) and his friends M. Srinivasan (34) and D. Jagadeesan (30) of Coimbatore. They were on the way to Thottampuram village from Coimbatore in a four-wheeler. When they were close to Mavanatham village near the Dhimbam Ghat Road they spotted the leopard on the road. 

They stopped the van and hurriedly clicked a few pictures on their mobile phones before the animal smelt their presence and went back into the tiger reserve. Forest officials suspect that the animal could have strayed out of the nearby Bannerghatta National Park in Karnataka. Based on the alert by the trio Thalaimalai forest officials warned villagers and passers-by to stay safe as there were quite a few incidents of people being killed by leopards in and around Dhimbam Ghat Road a couple of years ago. 

In June 2014 Mohammed Iliyas a van driver was killed by a leopard, followed by forest guard Krishnan while he was on duty in July and temple priest Resan. The last such incident was on November 27, 2014, when the victim R. Srinivasan (30) of Kollegal, Karnataka, got out of his vehicle which broke down between the 25th and 26th hairpin bends in the Ghat Road.

An official said that the number of tigers in the reserve has increased from 45 to 62 during the last one year. While they don’t have the population of leopards they said that it could have also substantially increased.

Apart from Thaaimalai leopards have also been spotted at Kethesal, Kermalam, Dhimbam, Bannari and Thengumarahada forests. Warning villagers to stay safe and protect their cattle the forest department has also warned tourists not to stop or get down from their vehicle near Thalaimalai, especially in the dark till further orders. Forest staffs were monitoring the movement of leopards in that locality.