leopard and the city..

recently a leopard was spotted near busy bannerghatta road . Though bannerghatta is more famous for zoo still people wont expect a leopard to come near there homes which is alomst 8 kms from the forest area. One leopard and two cubs were seen around Mount St Joseph Institution , Holy Trinity Church and other nearby places. For me this is of special significance as these are just 100 mtrs away from the place I would be moving in soon and usually go for walks in morning which are most active times for leopards.  Straying of leopards in cities are more frequent than other animals. And I have no clue why most of the times it is only leopard, may be they are more agile , can climb over trees or buildings!

They are always in news – last time it was hosur which got the attention. Leopard being killed by people of Guwahati. 

I have been witnessing these stories since quite some time. Mumbai has a full fledged forest in between city periphery which is inhibited by leopards also. The forest is sorrounded by busy localities. My home and forest had only a road separating them. In earlier times leopard used to roam around on the road. We sometimes thought that the animal we are seeing was leopard but had no reason to believe. A leopard in the city !! It was when it was highlighted in media we came to know. There were some places which autorikhshaw refused to go in night citing the leopards, we thought it is just a excuse to not go . Some of the places in powai even saw a crocodile coming into its campus. There were stories of leopards death due to trucks overrunning them, childrens being ambushed in high rise apartment complexes. In one particular year it increased in numbers .Ultimately most of them were caught and relocated to far away forests . Let us hope it does not happen in bangalore.