The state government has issued a Government Order (GO) to form the Leopard Task Force (LTF) to tackle the leopard menace in T Narsipur, Nanjangud, Saragur, and H D Kote taluks of Mysuru division and Pandavapura and Nagamangala taluks of Mandya division, both under Mysuru Circle of Karnataka Forest Department.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who also holds the forest portfolio, held a high-level meeting of Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Dr K V Rajendra and senior forest officials on January 24 and gave directions to form the LTF.
The decision was taken following an unprecedented rise in leopard attacks on humans and animals, including dogs, cows and goats, reported from aforementioned places over the past three years.
As per the GO, issued by Forest, Ecology, Environment (Services) department Principal Secretary Geetha M Patil, the LTF will function under the guidance of the chief conservator of forests, Mysuru Circle.
The LTF will function in four teams, led by the deputy conservator of forests (DCF), Mysuru division (wildlife), and the assistant conservator of forests (ACF), Mysuru division (regional).
The task force will have 58 personnel, including one range forest officer (RFO), four deputy range forest officers (DRFO), eight patrolling forest guards, 40 LTF assistants (to be hired on an outsourcing basis) and five drivers. Each team will have two patrolling forest guards, a driver, and 10 outsourced assistants.
A dedicated 24X7 control room, to tackle the leopard menace, will be formed at Aranya Bhavan in Mysuru.
The teams will patrol the leopard-hit areas. They will monitor residential areas and sugarcane and agriculture fields, where the leopard menace is rampant and will take necessary precautionary steps. The teams will coordinate with district administration.
The principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF), head of the forest force, will provide the necessary equipment for the LTF, including five vehicles, searchlights, public addressing systems and a siren. The PCCF will depute staff and give necessary instructions.
Since April 2022, forest officials have rescued 33 leopards in the Mysuru division alone, including 12 in T Narsipur taluk.
Meanwhile, a section of people has opined that experts should have been involved in the LTF.
Female leopard rescued near Jayapura
Forest officers of the Mysuru division rescued a female leopard, around two-and-half-years old, at Jedi Katte near Jayapura of Mysuru taluk on Monday night.
Lakshmikanth, assistant conservator of forests of Mysuru division, said that the officials had kept a cage, last week, following complaints of a leopard being sighted in the region.
The leopard was released into a forest on Tuesday.