Five leopards reached Morena from Kuno National Park, forest department appealed to people to be cautious:

News Topical, Digital Desk : Five leopards were seen crossing a road near a dam in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district on Sunday, officials said. However, forest department officials have urged people to be cautious.

According to officials, these cheetahs were seen crossing the Pagara dam in Jaura area, about 50 km from Kuno National Park, home to African cheetahs. Some locals panicked after seeing these cheetahs in the open at around 6.45 am while others captured this rare sight on their mobile phones.

Forest officials were soon alerted about the presence of leopards in the area. After the video of leopard sightings went viral, the forest department appealed to the villagers to be vigilant.

The deputy ranger said- Cheetahs are being monitored

Deputy Ranger Vinod Kumar Upadhyay said that these cheetahs had reached the Jaura area of Morena via Kailaras from Kuno National Park (KNP). Several cheetahs were transferred to KNP from Namibia and South Africa as part of efforts to revive this species in India after seven decades of extinction.

Upadhyay said that on Sunday, with the help of GPS collars, it was found that the leopards were in the Pagara Dam Kothi area of Jaura forest area. He said that a team of the forest department reached the spot and found the leopards resting on a high part near the dam and 'Cheetah Mitras' (trained local volunteers) are keeping an eye on them.

Upadhyay said, 'The leopards had reached Jaura area from Kuno via Kailaras. Later, they were seen moving towards Khokha Pura village near Devgarh, where forest and tracking teams were following them.' Divisional Forest Officer of KNP R Tirukural said that the leopards are being constantly monitored by dedicated teams.