Leopard sighted again in Pune’s DRDO facility, search continues

The forest department patrolling party confirmed the presence of the leopard inside the campus late in the night. However, the immediate rescue of the animal could not be done. The forest department has also installed trap cages and personnel with tranquilising darts have been kept on standby, officials said.

Forest department teams have also briefed the DRDO officials and staffers on the various precautionary measures that need to be taken while the search and rescue operation is on. The movement precautions will remain in force till the leopard is located or it is definitively confirmed that it has gone back into the forest area.

Teams from the Pune forest department and wildlife rescue experts from ResQ Charitable Trust had launched an elaborate search operation in the early hours of Tuesday after the leopard was sighted around 3.30 am inside the campus. Camera drones and camera traps were deployed for the search and rescue operation of the leopard. Thermal cameras are also being used and a trained canine squad of the forest department will also be brought in for the search operation later on Wednesday, officials said.

The region where the leopard was sighted has thick tree cover and is located adjacent to a dense forest area. Along with R&DE, the area has two other defence establishments — General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF) and Centre of the Border Road Organisation (BRO) and also of a Training Battalion of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army.