‘Leopard’ video keeps Vaishali on its toes

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad forest department teams are camping in Vaishali after footage of an animal which looks like a leopard was captured on a CCTV camera of a house in Sector 3. The sighting has created panic in the area and the residents are keeping vigil at night since Wednesday.
Forest department officials are however, still unsure whether it is a leopard.No pug marks have been found in the area, but the forest department is looking for any other sign of the animal.
“In the footage one could clearly see an animal which is of a cat family but since the footage is not that clear we cannot say for sure whether it is a leopard or a fishing cat. We have dispatched teams to track the animal but so far we have not been successful. We have not found any pug mark nether there is any kill,” said Deeksha Bhandari, district forest officer.
Residents, however, say they are not leaving anything to chance and are keeping strict vigil at night. They have deputed members of RWA for the job and locals have been advised to stay indoors after dark. “It has been more than two days since the animal was spotted on CCTV but we are still living in fear,” said Dhirender Bhadauria, a resident.
“There is another possibility that the leopard has left the area through the Hindon canal stretch. We will continue to comb the area for few more days before we call off the mission,” added Bhandari.