BHUBANESWAR: The alleged sighting of a leopard near Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here kept forest officials on their toes on Saturday.
The incident sparked panic among people in the locality prompting the city forest division to search the area for hours and lay a trap.
Sources said some locals claimed to have sighted a leopard in the forest near the airport dump yard at around 10 am. On being informed, a team of forest officials and Airfield police rushed to the spot. Two more teams of the city forest division also reached the place and laid a trap to capture the suspected big cat.
Though forest personnel spotted some paw marks, they ruled out the presence of leopard in the area. “The paw marks appeared to be of a jackal. However, we are yet to confirm it as no such animal has been captured,”said deputy ranger Radhakanta Hota.
City DFO Ajit Satpathy also ruled out the presence of a leopard. However, he said the Forest department is on alert and the cage trap will be kept in the area during the night.
The incident triggered panic in nearby areas as forest personnel had captured a leopard from the airport area five years back. In February 2019, a leopard had strayed into Palaspalli area and it was captured near the Cargo gate of BPIA. The big cat was later released in Chandaka wildlife division.