TIRUMALA: Scare of leopards revisited Tirumala, with the movement of leopards reported on ghat road and at Sannidhanam Guest House in Tirumala. One leopard was found crossing the ghat road on Friday morning, while another was found hunting pigs near Sannidhanam Guest House in Tirumala on Thursday night.
According to CCTV footage with TTD authorities, on Thursday night, when pigs were foraging for food near the guest house, a worker came out to check out the noise. He saw the pigs running helter skelter with a leopard hunting them from behind. He stood still for a minute in shock and rushed inside shivering with fear.
On Friday, a family returning from Tirumala was filming the picturesque greenery along the ghat road, while driving in their car, when they spotted a big leopard crossing the road, just before they passed the spot. It was captured in their video and the family reportedly were shocked following the incident. It happened near Vinayaka temple, three km from Alipiri.
There were also reports of leopards spotted at different locations along the ghat road occasionally in the past few months. The free movement of wildlife is being attributed to the decrease in the movement of pilgrims, with darshan decreased to limited hours in Tirumala.Forest wing of TTD expects that wildlife will return deep into the forests, when the pilgrim movement to Tirumala picks up once again.
However, not taking any chances, all the staff of the forest wing of TTD has been put on alert and pilgrims are also being asked to be cautious. Further, 14 more CCTVs have been installed at different vantage points to keep track of the movement of wildlife in Tirumala and ghat road, in addition to the existing 26 CCTVs.