Forest Department intensifies efforts to track animal involved in killing daily-wage worker in Hasanur

Forest Department staff patrolling a village located along the forest boundary at Hasanur in Erode district | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The Forest Department has intensified efforts to track the animal suspected to have killed a 36-year-old daily-wage workers near Hasanur, with camera traps installed at four locations, drones deployed for surveillance, and night patrolling stepped up in the forest-fringe areas.

The partially consumed body of V. Periyasamy of Bungalow Thotti was found along a stream near the forest fringes under the Hasanur Range of the Hasanur Forest Division of the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) on Sunday (October 4, 2026) morning. While residents claim that the animal involved was a leopard, citing a series of cattle kills in the villages, the Forest Department is yet to confirm the species.