Forest officials suspect leopard killed woman near Ooty

Representative image
| Photo Credit: SATHYAMOORTHY M

The Forest Department continues its search for the elusive carnivore that killed and partially consumed a 50-year-old woman at Arakadu village near Udhagamandalam.

The incident is believed to have occurred on Wednesday evening, with the body of 50-year-old G. Anjalai, from Perar, being discovered on Thursday by local residents. Following the incident, the Forest Department immediately shifted their efforts towards identifying the animal responsible for the incident, with camera traps being set in the vicinity of where the body was discovered.

Divisional Forest Officer (Nilgiris division) S. Gowtham told The Hindu that the camera traps set up in the area did not manage to capture any images of the carnivore that could have been responsible for the attack. “However, we have found pug marks and have also collected hair samples from the area, with the latter being sent for forensics analysis to confirm the species of the animal,” said Mr. Gowtham.

Forest Department officials suspect that the woman was killed by a leopard, going by the evidence found at the scene of the attack, coupled with local knowledge of the area, with leopards being sighted in the area recently.

Mr. Gowtham also added that there had been no other negative interactions between humanbeings and wildlife reported in the area recently. The Forest Department officials express hope that the incident was an isolated case and are continuing to monitor the area and discouraging people from venturing near heavily forested areas, particularly during the evenings.