DAMAULI, JULY 19

Bhanu Municipality is all set to install CCTV cameras in all wards to facilitate research on leopards in Tanahun.

Preparations are under way to install CCTV cameras in 4,000 hectare forest area spread from wards 1 to 9 for research purpose.

A total of 36 cameras will be installed in these wards in a grid of one kilometre, said Division Forest Office Tanahun Chief Kedar Baral. “A camera will be installed at every grid and it will capture the images of wild lives,” said Baral. He added that they had come up with CCTV camera installation to control leopards after the man-eating beast killed nine children in the municipality.

CCTV cameras will be kept in the forest for one month. The purpose of installing CCTV cameras is to keep track of the beast.

Five children were injured in leopard attacks. The municipality is planning to buy the CCTV cameras with financial support from Gandaki Province.

A camera will cost up to Rs 40,000. Forest Division Office, Tanahun, said that leopards might have entered the human settlement due to lack of food in the forest.

Leopards feed on deer, hares, jackals and other wild animals. But, they are in short supply these days. As a result, leopards have started entering the human settlement. Assistant forest officer Manoj Ranabhat said they were going to study why leopards had unleashed terror in Bhanu Municipality.

“We shall study and find out the scientific causes behind leopard terror,” said Ranabhat.

“Camera trapping technology will be used to research leopards. Experts say a leopard requires four kg of meat a day. The Forest Division Office has also started a wildfire control programme to improve the wild animals’ habitat. It is estimated that the forest in all nine wards has more than 20 leopards,” said Baral.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 20, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.