Search for leopard in Greater Noida society enters 4th day, crane deployed to scan under-construction towers

Noida: The search operation for a leopard in a housing society in Greater Noida (West) entered the fourth day on Friday, with forest officials using a hydraulic crane to scan the under-construction towers to trace the elusive big cat. Since there is no evidence of the leopard, which was spotted in Ajnara Le Garden society in Sector 16 on Tuesday, the future course of action will be decided by the end of the day, a senior official said. Around half a dozen trap cages and cameras have been installed at the site but so far there has been no success, Divisional Forest Officer (Gautam Buddh Nagar) Pramod Kumar Srivastava said. "We have got a hydraulic crane from the fire department which is being used to scan the upper portions of the under-construction buildings... In case the leopard has moved there. We will continue the search today also but since there is no evidence of the leopard now, the future course of action will be decided by the end of the day," Srivastava told PTI.

He said work is underway to cordon off the area comprising four to five under-construction towers where the big cat is believed to be stranded. There are residential towers on both sides of these under-construction buildings, he said, citing the challenge of the situation.

Besides four teams of the Gautam Buddh Nagar forest department, Srivastava said, experts from Agra, Meerut and Ghaziabad roped in for the job remain stationed at the society.

Meanwhile, outdoor movement of the residents continued to be curtailed, impacting home delivery of essential items. The leopard sighting had triggered panic among residents of the group housing society where around 1,500 people live.