BANGALORE: The four-year-old female leopard whose body was found on a tree near S Kallahalli village in Mysore district on September 12 had died of poisoning.
The Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and Information Centre, Mysore, attributed the death to gastroenteritis and probable respiratory failure caused by zinc phosphide poisoning.
The liver and stomach of the dead animal tested positive for zinc phosphide, according to the necropsy report by the laboratory.
A source said the leopard probably had consumed meat laced with the poision or miscreants might have poisoned the meat to kill the animal.
Clarity After Police Investigation
A clear picture would emerge only after a thorough investigation by the police, the source added.
According to the report, the leopard’s stomach was quite enlarged and had large pieces of undigested meat. The stomach membranes showed severe congestion and haemorrhages. Even the lungs were congested and filled with fluids tinged with blood. The animal’s visceral organs were also infected by E coli.
Initially, forest officials had suspected that the big cat might have died of severe abscesses.
Radio Collar Was Intact on Big Cat
Sanjay Gubbi of the Nature Conservation Foundation had radio collared five leopards trapped by the Forest Department to study man-leopard conflicts.
While the whereabouts of the four collared leopards are not known, the dead leopard had the radio collar intact with the battery still active.