Fear lingers in Coimbatore suburbs after leopard’s sighting

Residents have demanded increased surveillance by the Forest Department following the recent sighting of a stranded leopard in an industrial unit at Kannampalayam on Tiruchi Road in the Coimbatore suburb.

A leopard was caught on the surveillance cameras of a gear manufacturing company on the bank of River Noyyal on November 12. The video got circulated a few days ago, following which the Forest Department staff inspected the area.

However, residents from the locality say that fear of the carnivore sighted in their area, far away from forests, was still lingering.

A resident from Kannampalayam said people from places such as Ravathur Pirivu, Kannampalayam, Manoj Nagar and Pappampatti Pirivu were still worried about the leopard. There were vacant lands with bushes and large tracts of agricultural plots around these localities. People hesitated to venture out alone early in the morning and at night after the sighting of the leopard.

Another resident said that conservancy workers of Kannampalayam Town Panchayat have asked them to report if residents found their livestock, pet animals and stray dogs missing.

“Milkmen are coming late in the morning to farms for milking cows after the sighting of the carnivore. The number of people going for morning walks also dwindled at a few places,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Forest Department said that a surveillance camera visual of a leopard loitering around a shed behind a house with the watermark ‘Sulur’ was a video from Thadagam section of Coimbatore forest range dated March 7, 2025. The old video was circulated with its date and time masked with the watermark by someone.

District Forest Officer N. Jayaraj said eight camera traps were placed along the course of the Noyyal, which had bushes and vegetation on the sides. The department suspected that the leopard could have reached Kannampalayam from Boluvampatti forest range limits by traversing through the course of the river.

He added that the staff would patrol the course of the river, looking for direct or indirect evidence of the presence of the stranded leopard.