Leopard on prowl trapped

A leopard which had been prowling in Naravi and other villages in Belthangadi for the last few weeks spreading panic among the local people was caught in a trap laid by Forest department officials.
The trap was laid at Marodi near Belthangadi in the district last week, forest officials said.
The leopard had taken away a calf from the cattle shed of one Salam in Madla early this week and its half-eaten carcass was found in a nearby area the next day.
Forest officials used the carcass as the bait hoping that the leopard would return searching for it and the plan paid off, the sources said.

The leopard, aged around eight years, had been shifted to Pilikula near here and the Bengaluru wildlife division of the forest department would decide where to release the animal, they said.