Leopard spotted at Infosys campus in Mysuru; combing operatings on, employees instructed to work from home and remain indoors

Leopard spotted at Infosys campus in Mysuru triggers alarm among employees, prompting work from home instructions.

A leopard was spotted in the early hours of Tuesday (December 31, 2024), at the Infosys campus of Mysuru triggering alarm among the IT company’s employees who have been instructed to work from home or remain indoors.

The company’s Global Education Centre is located in Mysuru and it has instructed its employees to stay indoors till the issue was resolved and the area sanitized by the forest department.

The presence of the spotted cat was confirmed with the CCTV footage and the forest department has launched an operation to track and capture the leopard. I.B. Prabhugowda, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Mysuru, said 40 personnel have launched a combing operation and a drone was also deployed to spot the animal. “A thermal drone will be deployed after dusk to ascertain the presence of the leopard,” he said.

Mr. Prabhugowda said the combing operation is an elaborate exercise as the campus is spread over nearly 350 acres and has a lot of buildings. “Apart from vacant areas even the building will be combed in a systematic manner,” he added.

Dr. Malathi Priya, Conservator of Forests Mysuru Circle, said the leopard was first spotted around 2 a.m. and CCTV footage confirmed it, while there was a direct sighting around 11 a.m. “We are bursting crackers to nudge and push the leopard out of the campus towards non-residential areas outside the campus,” she added.

Meanwhile, Dr. Basavaraju, DCF (Territorial) said that apart from combing the campus, camera traps are being set up to help ascertain the presence of the animal and cages are being laid at vantage spots in a bid to trap and capture the leopard. A team of veterinarians are also present at the site. 

This is not the first time that a wild animal has been spotted in factory or company premises in Mysuru. Many leopards have been captured and shifted out of BEML’s Mysuru complex which is spread over 450 acres and its testing track surrounded by dense vegetation, has provided a safe sanctuary for leopards.