Though the leopard which strayed into one of the TTD guest houses located in the posh Padmavati area on Monday vanished into the wild under the cover of darkness, the incident has raised questions about the safety of pilgrims.
Pilgrims unharmed
TTD officials declared the area safe after an exhaustive three hour operation that lasted well into the night. Officials from several departments — forest, vigilance, fire and rescue, police and wildlife — rushed to the scene, with the officials from the SV Zoo park at Tirupati leading the efforts to capture the big cat. However their search, armed with linen nets and tranquilliser guns, was in vain.
Three fear-stricken TTD employees, who were on duty at the guest house and had climbed atop an overhead tank on seeing the leopard, were rescued.
Three of the seven suites in the guest house were occupied and the authorities heaved a sigh of relief on finding the inmates safe. However, the pilgrims were immediately shifted to another guest house.
The incident spurred the TTD management into action but the speculation that the number of leopards on the prowl is more than three has put the management in a tight spot. Leopards have so far been spotted only in the Balaji Nagar locality, the Gogarbham dam and both the footpaths. The fact that a majority of the guest houses under the purview of the Padmavati guest house are located on the fringes of the forest has made the officials wary. The two traps set by the wild life authorities have not yielded any result.
