Ropar, December 29
A leopard cub found dead in a nearby forest area on December 27 night was shot by poachers and mauled by their dogs. The preliminary post-mortem report of the cub has confirmed that it had splinter injuries beside a wound inflicted by a sharp-edged weapon on its forehead while one of its ears had been chewed apparently by hunting dogs.
Locals feared for the life of its mother and sibling as they had earlier spotted an adult female leopard with two cubs roaming in the area.
While one cub was hunted down illegally by unindentified poachers, the mother and the other cub could not be traced even after two days of the incident.
This is, however, not the first incident when a leopard has become the victim of poaching in the area. Last year, on December 22, a leopard got entangled in a chain link fencing of a farm in the Nurpur Bedi area. Fencing is used by farmers to protect their crops from wild animals. But in that case, it was set up by poachers and before they killed the leopard, locals informed the authorities who rescued the critically injured animal.
Before that, on April 28, 2012, a one-and-half-year-old critically injured female leopard was rescued from a snare near Khamera village at Nangal and taken to Chhatbir zoo, where it succumbed to its injuries.
Environmentalist and bird photographer Prabhat Bhatti said the wild cat in the region was in danger because of the increasing population. He said humans were intruding into forests.
About it
The preliminary post-mortem report of the cub has confirmed splinter injuries, besides a wound inflicted by a sharp-edged weapon on its forehead. One of its ears had been chewed, apparently by hunting dogs