Tirupati: Another leopard captured on way to Tirumala

Tirupati : A third leopard has been captured on the footpath area leading to the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala, an official of the Andhra Pradesh Forest department said on Thursday.

The animal was caught near the Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple on the way to Tirumala, the official said. It was caught within three days of the second one, following two wild animal attacks on children recently with the last one resulting in a fatality.

"We have captured the third leopard near Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple, the same place where the second was caught. This is a male leopard, aged about five years," Tirupati divisional forest officer (DFO) A Srinivasulu said.

This leopard will also be quarantined for up to 10 days at Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park (Tirupati zoo) and subjected to DNA analysis to check if it had consumed human flesh.

Meanwhile, the department is still awaiting the DNA analysis report of the second leopard.

Analysing both the leopards will ascertain as to which one had attacked the minor girl recently, said Srinivasulu.

Meanwhile, two sub-adult leopards were found dead under suspicious circumstances near Melavoi village in Sri Sathya Sai district, said an official on Thursday.

The first carcass, a female leopard, was found in an agricultural field outside the reserve forest area on Wednesday afternoon with froth oozing out from the mouth and bleeding through the nostrils.

"While searching the vicinity of the first carcass on Thursday around 9 am, we found another dead leopard, male, on a hillock, including the carcass of a goat.

We are suspecting if the leopards had died after eating that goat," Sri Satya Sai District Forest Officer Ravindranath Reddy stated.