Forest Department warns of action against persons spreading fake information on leopard movement in Coimbatore suburbs

The Forest Department staff are having a tough time in Coimbatore as morphed photos of locations in and around Pappampatti and Vellalore are being circulated with a leopard in them.

One such image, which depicted an African cheetah in front of a house at Vellalore, was widely circulated on social media and through WhatsApp as that of a leopard sighted at the place. Even though the image depicted a cheetah (Asiatic Cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952), staff from the department visited the location to kill the rumours. Forest Department officials said the person who morphed the photo, possibly with an AI tool, could have used an image of a cheetah without knowing the difference between cheetah and leopard.

The department had to send staff to different locations along the banks of River Noyyal near Pappampatti, Kannampalayam, Sulur, and Vellalore in the past three weeks after photos of leopard were circulated as that of the animal spotted by people at these locations, they said.

According to them, original videos of leopards near houses from other locations, including one from Erode district and another from a village near Thondamuthur, were also circulated as that of a leopard caught on the surveillance cameras of an industrial unit at Kannampalayam on November 12.

The department also found that a photo of an elderly man with bandage, which was circulated as that of a person injured in leopard attack, was also misinformation.

The department on Saturday (December 6, 2025) stated that it will initiate stringent action against persons creating morphed photos, depicting them as a leopard seen in the suburbs, and creating fear among the public.