Reports of leopard sightings from two different locations in the city are keeping Forest officials on the tenterhooks and people of the respective localities in cold sweat.

As per the account of foresters, the first information about a leopard sighting was received from Rajendranagar, two days ago. The cat was sighted from the nursery of the Telangana State Medicinal Plants Board close to the Himayatsagar reservoir, following which wildlife teams surveyed the area and reportedly found pug marks.

Camera traps were set up at the location, but no confirmation of the big cat has been found yet. Footage showed movement of a feline, but it is from a very close range, making it difficult for an accurate analysis of the animal’s shape or the rosette pattern on the skin, officials informed.

Alarm bells started ringing a second time, after security guards at Research Centre Imarat, a Defence facility, reported presence of two leopards on the campus.

An advisory was released by the Defence Laboratories School, Vignyankancha, RCI, on July 11, alerting parents about the sighting of the leopards at the location, and urging them to take utmost care of their children, and not allow them to venture out alone under any circumstances until, further notice.

Forest teams who scoured the location for pug marks have not found any traces of the felines. Nevertheless, teams have been stationed at both the sites, informed Ranga Reddy District Forest Officer D. Sudhakar Reddy.

“We don’t know if the leopard seen near Chilkur is the same as the one that was spotted at RCI, because the animals can travel up to 25-30 kilometres in the cover of the night. If indeed two leopards had been spotted, it could have been a mother with her cub, or a mating couple. Unless we get any proof, we cannot say,” Mr. Sudhakar Reddy said.