Snake bite claims life of a male leopard in Kanpur zoo

KANPUR: Following snake bite, an 18-year-old male leopard died in the Kanpur zoo late evening on Saturday. A panel of three doctors conducted the postmortem examination of the leopard on Sunday afternoon before cremating it. The leopard was cremated in the presence of the six gazetted officers. As the leopards come under schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, they are considered to be highly endangered. The death of the senior most leopard named 'Ditto' has shocked the zoo authorities as despite being elderly, it was very active in its enclosure number four. The zoo has a large number of snakes especially in the Safari area. The zoo is now left with 10 leopards.

Talking to TOI, Kanpur zoo director, Deepak Kumar said that the snake which could be probably a cobra or a Krait had attacked the leopard right on its face as bite marks were visible on its jaw. He said that the snake had bitten the leopard on Saturday evening after which the zoo vets had begun the treatment but it could not be saved and the postmortem examination was done on Sunday afternoon which was followed by its cremation.

Deepak Kumar also mentioned that leopard 'Ditto' had been brought to Kanpur zoo from Mainpuri on May 7, 2005 after it had turned man-eater. It was since then it remained hale and hearty and also bred well with the female leopard which gave birth to the four cubs.

"Breeding rate of the leopards is good here in Kanpur zoo and as we had limited space to accomodate more, we had stopped the breeding. Now we will begin breeding of leopards and increase their numbers in our zoo", said the zoo director while mentioning about the future plan of leopard breeding.

Zoo vet RK Singh, one among the team of doctors who treated the leopard said that the lungs of the deceased leopard had turned black. The snake had attacked its jaw and caused death. He said that efforts were made to save it but this did not happen. The leopard was shivering when we came to know about the deterioration in its death and was given the necessary medication.

He also stressed on the fact that Kanpur zoo has a good breeding rate among the leopards and soon their numbers would be increased here. Other vets who conducted the autospy included Dr UC Srivastava and Dr Mohd Nasir.