A four-year-old male leopard that was badly injured in a snare died during treatment at Mankuzhi in Gudalur Forest Division, The Nilgiris, during the late hours of Monday. It was among the two leopards that died in private lands in that forest division in as many days.
On Tuesday, a three-year-old female was found dead in an open well.
Forest department officials said that around 2 p.m. on Monday the leopard was found near a house at Mankuzhi village. It had a barbed wire snare around its hip. While it managed to escape from the snare, the injury had deepened burying the barbed wire inside the hip. It looked weak, exhausted and starved.
The animal was trapped using a net around 3.30 p.m. and shifted to Ettimadai Forest Colony for treatment. It died there around 6.30 p.m.
“The injury was very deep. It could have got caught in the snare about three or four days ago. The barbed wire had caused muscle tears and septic wounds. It also had an injury on its front paw,” said Forest Veterinary Assistant Surgeon E. Vijayaraghavan who treated it. A case was registered under Section 9 (hunting) of the Wildlife Protection Act. The department has formed a team led by Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Gudalur A. Pushpakaran to investigate the case. Department sources said that they were on the verge of nabbing the accused. More sections will be added to the case as investigation progresses.
Well
In the other incident, villagers saw a leopard floating in an unused well that was about 20-ft-deep and had some water in it at Anaisethakolli village on Tuesday. The forest personnel on retrieving it came to know that the female was dead. They suspect that it could have accidentally fallen into the well, about three days ago and died less than a day ago. There seemed to be no foul play in the death, Mr. Pushpakaran said.
Dr. Vijayaraghavan performed a post-mortem examination of both the animals in the presence of forest officials and NGOs representatives. Vital organs collected from the carcasses will be sent for laboratory testing.
