NILGIRIS: Residents of Tenthill in Coonoor are scared to venture out of their house due to the frequent movement of a leopard that killed a pet dog in the early hours of Saturday.
The dog was sleeping in front of the house on the first floor of the building. The leopard climbed the steps, lifted the dog and went inside the forest within a few seconds.
The dog owner came to know that his dog was missing only after he woke up and came out of the house.
“After informing the locals of the missing dog, we checked the CCTV cameras and found that the leopard lifted our dog. We are scared of the leopard movement. Before another untoward incident, the forest department staff should capture the animal and relocate it inside the forest,” he said.
The forest department suspects that the big cat might have come from the Tiger Hills near the Kattery Park.
“We have stepped up vigil and advised locals to avoid dumping garbage and other waste in the open and keep pet animals in the cage or within the house. We have also asked people to avoid venturing out of the house.
Currently, we have no plan to set up a cage to capture the animal as there have been only a few such incidents,” said a forest department official.