Leopard attack: TTD defends its decision to give sticks to devotees for protection

TIRUPATI: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) chairman Bhumana Karunakara Reddy has defended the board’s decision to provide a wooden stick for every devotee trekking to the Tirumala temple given the recent attacks by wild animals.

Karunakara Reddy, along with TTD executive officer (EO) AV Dharma Reddy distributed the wooden sticks to the devotees trekking Tirumala hill along Alipiri pedestrian walkway on Wednesday. “The TTD will not compromise on the safety of devotees by giving the wooden sticks to them. Moreover, the wooden sticks are being given to those who want them,” Karunakara Reddy told the media.

The TTD chairman said that several measures were being taken for devotees' safety and distributed wooden sticks to them to boost self-confidence, besides protecting themselves from the attack of wild animals enroute Tirumala. Later, these wooden sticks would be collected by the temple staff near Sri Lord Narasimha Swamy temple, he said.

“So far, the forest department has captured four leopards in the Seshachalam forest. Three leopards are kept under quarantine in Sri Venkateswara (SV) Zoo in Tirupati, and one is freed into the forest. Efforts are being made to capture one more leopard found roaming near Sri Lord Narasimha Swamy temple, where a six-year-old girl Lakshitha was mauled to death in a leopard attack on August 12,” Karunakara Reddy said.

Dharma Reddy said that as many as 10,000 wooden sticks were kept available for the safety of devotees and another 10,000 would be procured at the earliest. The board had spent around Rs 45,000 on procuring the wooden sticks, he said and added that farmers and people had earlier utilised the wooden sticks for protection from wild animals.