On 5 August 2022, a wild leopard made its way into the city of Belgaum, Karnataka. It was spotted near Hanuman Nagar Circle, where it attacked a man. The man survived with no major injuries, but the leopard escaped. It was later confirmed that the leopard had taken cover in the Belgaum Golf Course, which is surrounded on all sides by suburban residential neighborhoods. This terrified the people of the area. Although this was the first time a leopard was spotted in the heart of the city, the wild animal is periodically sighted in areas surrounding the city. Although this was the first time a leopard was spotted in the heart of the city, the wild animal is periodically sighted in areas surrounding the city. Increased Sightings of Wild Animals
Belgaum is a small city in the north of Karnataka that is surrounded by the evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of Hemmadga and Jamboti. As a growing city, Belgaum has undergone significant changes over the past few decades to become an urban sprawl.
In order to make a city well-connected, railway and highway lines have to be laid out. When it comes to a city like Belgaum, this means that those lines cut through forest areas, causing disruption to wildlife corridors.
Forests have also been cleared to give way to farmlands, while farmlands closer to the city are making way to give space to the growing population. With a rapidly changing ecosystem and the disappearance of forest covers, there have been increased sightings of wild animals all around Belgaum. Just in the last few months, a hyena was spotted near Balekundri, and a wild deer was seen in the streets of Bhutramanhatti.
An Expensive Operation
For an entire month – from 5 August to 5 September – the Forest Department, with the help of the police, attempted to search for the elusive leopard. The government spent around Rs 3 lakh a day for surveillance and tracing the leopard. Cameras were installed at Golf Course to trace the movement of the animal, forest department personnel stood guard outside the compound armed with lathis, and trained elephants were called in to help with the search – all to no avail.
On 5 September, the search was officially called off. According to Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) Anthony Mariyappa, after ten days of the leopard not being spotted on cameras, they called off the search, believing that the animal might have retraced back to its original habitat since there was no evidence to the contrary.
Life Returns to Normal?
A month later, life seems to have returned to normal for the residents in the vicinity, even though some of them who we spoke to were still fearful about visiting the golf course.
The operation was a massive undertaking, and not just monetarily, with over 300 officials involved in the search. However, not everyone believes it was efficient enough, with one local telling us that by the end of the month, while the operation was still on, the officials who were supposed to be guarding the compounds were nowhere to be seen.
10 Oct 2022
Poorvi Ammanagi
