Representative image of a leopard.
Credit: DH File Photo
Bahraich: The carcass of a a female leopard was recovered from the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district, forest department officials said on Sunday.
The carcass was spotted by villagers on Saturday following which forest Range Officer SK Srivastava, Forest Guard Manish Kumar and many others reached the spot and started in-depth investigation.
Srivastava told reporters that the "age of the female leopard found dead was about two years. All the organs of the leopard are intact." "Pugmarks of a big animal have been found near the incident spot, due to which the possibility of death in a conflict between animals is being expressed. Departmental officials and related institutions are investigating the case. The postmortem has been done," he said.
Veterinary officer Dr Deepak Verma, who conducted the postmortem, said, the female leopard died due to a deep injury on the head and attack by teeth and claws. These wounds may have been inflicted during a fight with a big leopard. The viscera has been preserved, it will be sent to Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly for investigation.
According to officials, five leopards, one tiger and one elephant have been found dead in different areas of the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary this year.
According to estimates, there are about 100 leopards and 70-80 tigers in the forests of Katarniaghat.
Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary is spread over an area of about 550 square kilometres.