Cheetah spreading terror around TU area caught

Kathmandu: A cheetah that had been spreading terror in and around the local Tribhuvan University area for a month has been trapped this morning.

It is said people traveling in vehicles in the morning and evening on the road passing through the TU campus used to encounter the cheetah.

The wild cat had also attacked some pedestrians. The cheetah was caught in a trap this morning near the TU Service Commission office.

Deputy Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police Circle, Kritipur, Raju Lama said the cheetah had attacked an Assistant Sub-Inspector at the Circle on April 8.

It had bumped with a motorcycle going towards Kirtipur via the TU Road around a month back. According to TU Central Campus Principal Gyanendra Rai, the locals and TU employees had been raising the risk posed by the cheetah since about a year ago. Bodies related to wildlife had placed a trap following this.

However, the cheetah escaped getting trapped and the trap was shifted to another place for some time. Rai said the trap was placed at the present location sometimes back. In his view, the reasons for the cheetah frequenting TU area is because there is forest nearby and the presence of thickets at various places in the TU compound.

‘Cheetah frequents the TU area to kill the stray cattle and their calves, and dogs which are found roaming the TU precincts. This has increased the chances of human-wildlife conflict,’ he said.

He added that the agency looking after wildlife has been informed of the trapped cheetah and it would be handed over to the body concerned in the witness of Naresh Maharjan, the Chair of Kirtipur Municipality, Ward No 10.

Rai, the TU Central Campus Principal, said they are clearing the bushes in the TU premises and installing lights at all places where there is movement of people to prevent cheetah’s movement inside the university compound.

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