A leopard that was caught on the surveillance cameras of an industrial unit at Kannampalayam on Tiruchi Road in Coimbatore district on November 12.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
A leopard was caught on the surveillance cameras of an industrial unit on the outskirts of Coimbatore city, creating panic among residents.
According to the Forest Department, a leopard entered the compound of a gear manufacturing company at Kannampalayam on Tiruchi Road on the night of November 12. The company is located on the bank of river Noyyal, more than 20 km away from the nearest forest boundary of Madukkarai forest range.
Surveillance camera visuals showed the stranded leopard walking into the industrial unit’s compound. A security guard was seen inspecting the compound and the leopard running away from his sight.
After being alerted about the incident, a Forest Department team from Coimbatore range visited the industrial unit and the locality on Thursday, November 20. They examined surveillance camera visuals of the past several days and the leopard was seen only in the videos of November 12.
“We have instructed the company to alert the Department if the leopard is sighted again. We suspect that the carnivore could have strayed into the urban locality by following the course of river Noyyal,” said V. Thirumurugan, Forest Range Officer, Coimbatore.
District Forest Officer N. Jayaraj said the Department presumes that the leopard could have returned to forest as no sighting of the carnivore or incidents of it attacking pet animals were reported after November 12.
“We suspect that the leopard could have come along the course of Noyyal from the limits of the Boluvampatti forest range” he said.
The distance between the industrial unit and Boluvampatti forest range through the course of Noyya is over 40 km.
Mr. Thirumurugan said wild boars and deer that live in the thickets along the course of Noyyal could have attracted the leopard to the urban locality. Presence of Prosopis juliflora (Seemai Karuvelam) and bushes offer them a perfect hideout to live in urban areas. He added that the Department has requested the councillor of the locality to remove vegetations.
Published – November 20, 2025 08:23 pm IST
