meerut the repeated sighting of a leopard in meeruts kithore region on monday has set alarm bells ringing the forest department has sent a team there to capture it the foresters along with the villagers combed the area but the big cat proved to be elusive a cage with a live bait has been placed in a mango orchard where it was sighted to trap it the sighting of a leopard is virtually unheard of in kithore region it is surmised that the big cat has strayed into the area by following the river kaliwhat is worrying the forest department officials is the possibility of a manleopard conflict flaring up any time as the leopard may poach a calves or pet dogs they do not want a repeat of a saharanpur or bijnor incident wherein villagers brutally killed the leopards that had strayed near human habitats for the safety of both man and animal they want to capture the feline at the earliest rajesh kumar divisional forest office of meerut said our teams are on the ground and keeping a close watch on the situation we have also set up cages but havent got any success so far he added we are sensitizing villagers on a continuous basis to avoid any mishap in fact we are conducting rescue operations keeping villagers close by our side kumar dismissed as rumours reports that two leopards were prowling about in the region for the residents of the region the big cats presence has revived memories of a leopard that had strayed into meerut cantonment hospital campus in 2014 forcing schools colleges and markets to shut down for three days rambir a villager saida cage set up in a mango orchard was found closed on tuesday with the bait inside now the foresters are changing its location it should not have been done because the leopard was sighted there and will come again