One of the leopards caged on the premises of Rain Forest Research Station in Jorhat on Saturday. Picture by Parikshit Saikia

Guwahati, Aug. 17: Authorities of the Jorhat-based Rain Forest Research Station have issued strict instructions to its employees against venturing out after dusk with reports of a leopard family making the sprawling campus its home.

The forest department has, however, caged two of the four leopards in the past few days. It is believed that at least two more big cats were still roaming about on the campus.

“Although these animals have not caused any harm to our employees till now, we don’t want to take any chances. These leopards are seen near the residential quarters of our employees very often,” director of the institute, N.K. Vasu, told The Telegraph.

Vasu said the leopards have found an ideal place to take shelter with several tea gardens located near the research station.

“These animals kill cattle and dogs in the nearby tea gardens and villages, but they have not caused any harm to our employees so far,” the director said.

Following regular complaints from the villagers, the forest department had installed a cage inside the institute’s campus.

On August 8, a full-grown male leopard was trapped inside the cage followed by another young male leopard on August 14.

“We have released the full-grown leopard at Nambar wildlife sanctuary in Golaghat district a day after it was captured. But the other leopard was sent to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation near Kaziranga for treatment, as it was injured,” a forest official in Jorhat said.

The official said efforts were on to capture the remaining two leopards, probably a female and a grown-up calf.

“We have installed a cage to trap the two leopards using a goat as bait,” he said.

The official said the leopards, which were taking shelter on the research station premises may have come from the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, about 15km away from the institute.

He said the depleting forest cover in the area is the reason behind leopards coming into conflict with humans on a regular basis.

“Before the research station was set up about a decade back, the site itself was a huge forest where leopards and other wild animals roamed free. These forests were part of Holongapar reserve forest, now known as the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, although there were patches of tea estates in between,” the official added.