TIRUMALA : At a time when Tirumala is brimming with pilgrims, two leopards were reportedly spotted by devotees trekking the footpath on Monday afternoon.
The TTD has taken a slew of measures since the mauling of a girl by a leopard on the trekking path last year. After the forest officials caught nearly seven leopards and left them in the wild, there was no movement of the wild cat on the hill shrine and its precincts for some time now. The spotting of leopards today close to the trekking path has once again raised safety concerns.
A senior forest officer, who wished not to be named, said that the leopards were spotted crossing the footpath, which is 150m away from G&C toll gate.
He informed that following the instructions of TTD EO AV Dharma Reddy, the forest department has taken measures to curb man-animal conflict in the region. The measures include using firecrackers to scare and spraying leopard’s urine collected from the zoo to mark the territory.
The day after the leopard attack on six-year-old Lakshitha, the forest staff have been deployed and are extensively monitoring three vulnerable points at the footpath from Alipiri to Tirumala round-the-clock.