HUBBALLI: The Dharwad forest department will send the leopard scat samples collected in Hubballi and Dharwad to Hyderabad for DNA analysis to identify whether there are two leopards or a single leopard on the prowl.
During the last week, there have been three leopard spottings in Hubballi and two on the Dharwad outskirts. On September 20, a leopard was spotted for the third time at Shiradi Nagar near Nrupatunga Betta in Hubballi. Within 30 minutes, a leopard was also spotted in Kavalgeri village near Dharwad which is about 15-18 km from Shiradi Nagar in Hubballi. It is not yet known whether it was the same leopard.
Deputy Conservator of Forest Yashpal Kshirsagar said that the teams have collected scat samples at Hubballi and Kavalgeri in Dharwad. "To ascertain whether there are one or two leopards we will send the scat samples to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad," he said.
During the last three days, the leopard has not been spotted in Hubballi and it is believed that after combing operations by forest, police and civic body personnel there, it might have shifted to Kavalgeri which is about 15 km away from Nrupatunga Hills where it was first sighted on September 15.
For the last two days, forest sleuths camped at Kavalgeri village with cages after they found scat and pugmarks in the sugarcane fields. Combing operations have already begun in that area.
A senior officer said six people from Kali Tiger Reserve from Dandeli and three experts from Binkadakatti zoo in Gadag have joined hands with local forest staff for the combing operations. The Dharwad forest division also has a couple of staff who earlier worked in Bandipur and other tiger sanctuaries. Two tranquilliser experts from Gadag and two veterinary doctors as well as drone cameras are part of the team camped in Kavalgeri.