Leopard found dead in Songadh

SURAT: A female leopard was found dead in forest area near Rampur Kothar village of Sadadvela range in Tapi district on Friday. Its eyes and limbs were missing. It is believed that the leopard may have been killed by poachers for body parts. However, the cause of death is yet to be ascertained.

A senior official of the forest department in Vyara received a call from an unidentified caller that a leopard carcass was discovered in the forest area. A team of forest officials rushed to the spot and carried out spot analysis.

Sources said the limbs had been chopped off with a sharp-edged weapon and its eyes had been gorged out. It is believed that the limbs had been removed for extracting claws. "Normally poachers don't leave the skin behind and try to keep it intact. The teeth of the leopard are intact," in-charge assistant conservator of forest (ACF), Songadh, C M Solanki said.

He said the postmortem report is awaited. No major external injury was visible on its body. He said that while there is a possibility of the animal having died of illness, it is also likely that it was poisoned. The wild cat was one-and-a-half years old.