‘Leopard sighting’ forces closure of schools in India’s Bengaluru

The education authority said that 130 schools will be closed.

BEngalURU, INDIA // Dozens of schools in Bengaluru were forced to close yesterday after a leopard sighting close to where another big cat had injured five people last weekend.

Panic gripped an eastern suburb of the city after a woman claimed to have spotted a leopard six kilometres away from Vibgyor school where one tried to maul several wildlife workers on Sunday, before being caged.

The education auhority said that 130 schools would be closed.

“We have advised about 80 private and 50 government schools in the city’s eastern areas to remain closed today for the safety of their wards, as one or two more leopards were seen moving around in the vicinity,” said S M Ramesh, a block education officer.

Residents were advised not to venture into open spaces in the area, which is dotted with boulders and eucalyptus plantations, as a precaution.

Forestry officials said they had searched the area for two days without success, after a woman reported seeing a leopard behind a technology park on her way home from work on Wednesday.

“We have placed one cage with a bait in the area and another near the private school where one leopard was trapped on February 7,” deputy range forest officer Jagannath Reddy said.

About 60 schools in the eastern areas had already declared a holiday on Wednesday, after rumours spread about a leopard being sighted in the area.

Leopards number between 12,000 to 14,000 in India, according to a national survey released last year.

They are increasingly venturing into populated areas as their habitats become more depleted.

A leopard killed a 5-year-old boy in the courtyard of his home in central India in 2014.

Video footage from Mumbai in 2013 showed a leopard creeping into an apartment block foyer and snatching a small dog.

* Agence France-Presse