ERODE: Vedarpalayam villagers have urged the forest department to capture an unidentified animal behind the death of 11 goats on Wednesday night in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR). Taking swift action, forest officials installed four cameras on the village border on Friday to monitor the area.
On Wednesday, Rajan, a farmer, tied his cattle near the house in Vedarpalayamunder. The next day, 11 goats were found dead, presumably hunted by an unidentified wild animal. Upon receiving the information, officials from Germalam forest range rushed to the village and inspected the spot. The officials warned villagers not to roam alone at night.
It is alleged that the mystery animal also tried to hunt a cow-calf tied up near Rajan's house at around 11 pm on Thursday night. But the animal ran away after Rajan and his neighbours rushed to the area upon hearing a noise. The villagers suspect that the animal may be a leopard and have asked the forest department to capture it.
"Leopards bite the neck while hunting. All goats that died in Vedarpalayam were bitten at various places on their bodies. Usually, dogs do that. Leopard usually drags away their prey and do not hunt livestock in packs. We doubt it was done by dogs," said DFO Sudhakar.
"However, villagers say there is movement of leopards. So we have installed surveillance cameras in the village. We are monitoring the area continuously," he added.