A leopard was caught in a cage set up by forest officials in Tirumala, following the incident in which a six-year-old was mauled to death a few days ago.
The leopard was caught by forest officials on August 13 night. The girl, identified as Lakshitha, had gone missing on August 11 night near the Narasimha Swamy temple in Tirumala on the Alipiri walkway and was found dead on August 12, officials said.
Lakshitha’s father, Dinesh had said “While climbing the Alipiri footway in Tirumala, my daughter, who was a few steps ahead, went to purchase a biscuit packet. Due to the heavy crowd of devotees, we assumed that she had gone further ahead of us, but after some time we could not find her. Later, she was found dead near the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple.”
The body was sent for post-mortem to the Tirupathi Government Hospital.
Forest officials identified the places where the wild cat roams and set up two cages on the footway at different places.
“The leopard was caught by forest officials. We will take necessary measures to protect devotees from attack by the beasts,” said Dharma Reddy, Executive Officer, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams told ANI.
Meanwhile, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has decided to allow pilgrims with children, aged below 15 years, to trek on both pedestrian routes only between 5 am and 2 pm.
The Srivari Temple Trust Board also announced that the movement of two-wheelers on the Ghat roads will be suspended from 6 pm to 6 am. The restrictions came into force on August 13.
Stating that the decisions have been taken for the safety of the children, the TTD, in a statement, said, “We noticed the movement of leopards last (August 12) night at five places, including three between Alipiri and Galigopuram, at Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy (LNS) temple and at the 38th Turning.”
Earlier in June this year, a five-year-old boy was admitted to hospital after he was attacked by a leopard in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirumala.
The incident took place at the 7th mile along the Alipiri-Tirumala pedestrian route in Andhra Pradesh.
(with inputs from ANI)
