DEHRASUN, 17 Jan: After the leopard attacks in Dehradun, the Uttarakhand forest department on Wednesday said it has heightened its search operation using drones and camera-traps and installed 10 cages to capture the wild cat.
One child was killed and another injured in two separate leopard attacks in Dehradun recently.
Forest department sources said Chief Wildlife Warden Sameer Sinha was closely monitoring the operation in Raipur, Canal Road, Singhali and other areas on the foothills of Mussoorie.
According to the information received from the office of DFO Mussoorie, 40 camera traps and 10 cages have been installed in the different areas of the Raipur range. A control room has also been set up in the Malsi area with no 0135-6617375 and whatsapp no 8077508488. An awareness campaign has also been launched in the areas through posters. Two-three veterinary doctors have also been stationed in these areas. Teams of forest personnel are also continuously patrolling in these areas to keep vigil.
The DFO office said the only proof of the presence of leopards was seen through CCTV cameras on Jan 15 at Vrindavan Enclave in the IT Park area.
Expressing concern over the leopard attacks in Dehradun and other parts of Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday called for preparing an action plan to stop human-animal conflicts and also taking other steps to stop such incidents. “In all those places where man-animal conflicts are taking place, the forest department should remain in alert mode,” the Chief Minister said.
He asked the forest department to put forward a proposal for increasing the compensation to Rs 6 lakh from Rs 4 lakh in case of death of a person in the man-animal conflicts. In the last meeting of the state wildlife board last year, the Chief Minister had called for increasing the compensation amount to Rs 6 lakh. He had asked the forest department to put forward a proposal in this regard before the state cabinet.
