A five-month old female leopard cub was killed when it was hit by an unidentified vehicle on Kundapur-Agumbe State Highway at Hardalli-Mandalli village in Kundapur taluk on Thursday night.
Brijesh Kumar, Range Forest Officer, Shankarnarayana Range, told The Hindu on Saturday that the cub was probably crossing the road with its mother and it might have been blinded by the lights of the vehicle. The incident occurred in an isolated area around 7 p.m., he said.
As soon as some people informed the Forest Department, the personnel of the Range Forest Office rushed to the spot and collected the carcass of the cub and brought it to the Jannady depot of Shankarnarayana Range Forest Office.
After a veterinarian examined the carcass, it was cremated on the depot premises around 8.30 p.m. the same day.
Mr. Kumar said that sightings of leopards were common in the area as it had lot of bushes and shrubs. There were complaints of dogs and calves vanishing from the houses in the nearby village. In fact, a calf had vanished just about four days ago, he said.
