6th Feb., 2019

A three-year-old leopard died after getting caught in a trap laid by poachers to catch a wild boar in Badmal forest range in Odisha’s Bolangir district on February 5, 2019.

The leopard was stuck in the iron trap unattended for hours together and in the struggle to get out its left leg had been dismembered.

“The leopard had also sustained deep wounds in other parts of its body while trying to escape from the trap laid by poachers to catch wild boar,” said Rashmi Ranjan Nayak, divisional forest officer, Bolangir.  “Forest officials have launched an operation against poachers. Also, an autopsy would be conducted and we have registered a case under provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act,” added Nayak.

This is the second incident of unnatural leopard death in Odisha within three weeks. On January 16, 2019, a carcass of a leopard was found floating in Rengali reservoir under Khamara forest range in Angul district. Before that, on November 14, 2018, one more leopard was found dead near the Hindol-Narsinghpur border of Satkosia Tiger Reserve (STR) in after getting caught in a trap laid by poachers.

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