Living with leopards in Mysuru  

For a city recognised as a tourist destination for all seasons, Mysuru is also the gateway to famed tiger reserves and elephant sanctuaries like Bandipur and Nagarahole — both of which are just a short drive away.

While the city is no stranger to wildlife, which is part of the region’s identity, Mysuru was in the spotlight in recent times due to high frequency of leopard sightings in its industrial and residential localities.

It is not that leopards have suddenly made their way into Mysuru — they have long been a part of the region’s landscape. But with unchecked urbanisation and the city’s horizontal sprawl steadily encroaching upon their natural habitats, encounters between leopards and residents have become increasingly common. This is drawing attention to the ‘presence’ of the spotted big cats but which, in fact, have always been around.

Two recent cases

In recent months, two high-profile industrial installations in Mysuru suffered a ‘’security breach’’. A leopard sauntered into the 350-acre campus of Infosys forcing the company employees to work from home.

The Forest Department scoured the campus for almost a month, deployed its staff on a 24×7 basis to monitor the site, installed camera traps and checked for fresh pugmarks but only to draw a blank after which the search operation was disbanded.

Within weeks, another leopard slipped into the woods surrounding the Reserve Bank of India’ currency note printing unit. However, the leopard was not as lucky as its counterpart at Infosys, and after a few weeks of persistent effort, the forest department managed to outwit the big spotted cat and capture it much to the relief of the employees.

Leopard sighting and their capture from the industrial areas in and around Mysuru are not new, and multiple incidents – of leopard capture – have been reported from the BEML campus alone. In November 2022, a leopard sneaked into Brindavan Gardens, a popular tourist destination, and forced the authorities to close the gardens for public for a prolonged period.

In addition, presence of wildlife in industrial areas such as Metagalli, Hootagalli, Belawadi, Kadakola etc have been reported in the past and is not hard to explain as these were villages surrounded by scrub vegetation. They were developed into industrial layouts only in the recent decades. And contrary to prevailing narrative it is not that leopards stray into villages or cities, but it is human intrusion in to their territory that has increased sightings and augmented conflict. 

Multiple incidents of leopards being captured from the BEML campus in Mysuru have been reported over the years.
| Photo Credit:
SRIRAM MA

Scrub jungle

Even today, scrub forests and agricultural fields extend to miles on end beyond the factory clusters. Though the habitat has eroded over the years, leopards have adapted to the changing milieu and thrived, according to forest department officials.

Mysuru is about 80 km from both Bandipur and Nagarahole, but the forest boundaries are linked by stretches of scrub jungle, which in turn connect to agricultural lands with a mosaic of sugarcane fields, fallow plots, and patches of wilderness. This landscape continuity provides crucial connectivity for leopard movement and dispersal.

Within the city, Chamundi Hills, designated as a reserve forest, along with its surrounding areas, also serves as a green pocket within the urban sprawl—offering cover, prey, and passage for wildlife all of which have combined to create a unique setting where humans and leopards increasingly cross paths. In addition, Chamundi Hills itself is surrounded by a landscape marked by agricultural fields and patches of wilderness that connect to reserve forests including Arabhitittu, facilitating free movement of leopards.

A leopard in Conflict situation trapped near Mysuru and relocated.
| Photo Credit:
SRIRAM MA

Role of CCTV cameras

While the proliferation of CCTV surveillance cameras and the social media have played a role in high rate of detection of leopards and dissemination of the news, the reality is that the big spotted cats have for long lived alongside humans, silently navigating the fringes of the city.

Experts and wildlife biologists have emphasised that, unlike tigers, leopards are the most adaptable of the big cats as they can survive not only in dense forests but also in agricultural fields, farmhouses, and semi-urban areas. And from the leopard’s perspective, Mysuru ticks all the right boxes as it provides the perfect blend of conditions required for them to thrive.

That leopard population is significant in the landscape around Mysuru is evident in the statistics provided by the forest department. According to Dr. I.B. Prabhugoud, Deputy Conservator of Forests and head of Leopard Task Force, nearly 150 leopards have been captured and translocated from Mysuru and surrounding regions in two years.

The Leopard Task Force was established in January 2023 as in the preceding few months, four people were killed in leopard attacks in T. Narsipura taluk alone. And ever since it was established, the LTF has attended to nearly 2500 complaints pertaining to leopard sighting – though a majority of them could not be described as a conflict.  

Though the LTF handles cases in Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar districts, out of 150 leopards that were captured till the end of March 2025, 122 of them were captured in Mysuru district. Of these, 48 were from Mysuru taluk which underlines how the landscape was suitable for leopards to survive and live cheek-by-jowl in a human-dominated landscape.

But for wildlife like leopards to survive, there should be adequate prey population and Dr. Prabhugoud pointed out that livestock is their first preference, as evident in the number of complaints pertaining to cattle kills by leopards. Around the city, leopards prey on street dogs apart from poultry waste that is dumped on the city outskirts.

While increase in leopard sighting heightens tension in the local community, forest department has made efforts to educate the public about leopard behaviour and the dos and don’ts that need to be complied with, to evade a conflict.

The key is to stop dumping poultry and meat waste on the outskirts of the localities which draws dogs and in turn, are preyed upon by leopards. There is a surge in leopard sightings during winter as it is mating season and hence people are advised to walk in groups during dawn and dusk, which is when the leopards are most active.

Farmers have been instructed to be in large groups in their fields during sugarcane harvesting which is where leopards tend to leave behind their cubs. Or the mother could be with the cubs making it susceptible to be more aggressive when it senses danger from humans. But generally, leopards tend to slither away at the sight of a crowd and hence people are advised to seek security in numbers. Keeping livestock tethered in secure enclosures is another advisory to reduce predation on domestic animals and mitigate conflict.

The landscape surrounding Mysuru includes agricultural fields and reserve forests where leopards come to dwell.
| Photo Credit:
SRIRAM MA

Proposal on enclosure

While the forest department is pursuing a ‘’capture and relocate’’ protocol with regard to leopards in human landscape, there is also a proposal to create an enclosure or sanctuary to house leopards captured in conflict situations.

A 92-acre plot of land which is part of territorial forest at Yelwal, on the outskirts of Mysuru city, has been identified for the purpose. The facility will have a capacity to house 100 leopards and cost ₹73 crore in the first phase. Though it may appear to be a practical solution, experts aver that housing leopards in confined spaces or in cages was not the way forward to redress the problem.

A more realistic approach is to protect the wilderness of the city through habitat conservation, besides strengthening and securing wildlife corridors through scientific landscape management. This could be reinforced by implementing conflict mitigation strategies such as early warning system, reduction of prey animals in peripheral areas by adopting animal birth control measures for dogs, garbage management etc and nudge the leopards toward their natural habitat, rather than allow them to be lured to the city periphery due to easy availability of prey animals.

Experts believe such an approach offers a living example of co-existence with wildlife. It also represents a sustainable alternative providing a win-win situation for both humans and leopards and should be pursued, instead of locking them in cages.