Leopard found dead in Chhattisgarh's Korba district; some body parts missing

Korba: A male leopard was found dead in a forest in Korba district of Chhattisgarh with some of the body parts missing, officials said on Thursday.

As per the preliminary autopsy, the wild animal was poisoned to death, they said.

"The carcass of the leopard, aged around seven years, was found in Chaitma forest range under Katghora forest division on Wednesday," said Kumar Nishant, Divisional Forest Officer of Katghora.

"One of the four claws, jaws and part of the leopard's skin were found missing, which triggered speculation of poaching. The chopped tail of the leopard was found nearby during a search of the area. The preliminary autopsy confirmed that the feline was poisoned to death," he said.

Meanwhile, the forest department personnel launched a search in the area with the help of a sniffer dog squad to trace the culprits who were involved in the offence, he said.