CUTTACK: A two-and-a-half-year old leopard died after walking into a snare laid by poachers in Sorishapal forest within Athagarh division of Cuttack district on Monday night.
Sources said, poachers had laid traps made of motorcycle clutch wires in the forest around half kilometre away from Bhiruda village in Tigiria block to hunt wild boars. The leopard fell into the trap and its neck got stuck in the noose of the wires. As the animal struggled to free itself from the trap, the noose tightened and it was killed.
The leopard’s carcass was spotted by some locals on Tuesday morning. On being informed, forest officials including Athagarh DFO Sudarshan Gopinath Jadhav and Ghana ACF Shyam Muduli rushed to the spot. Besides recovering the carcass, the personnel also seized large number of snares made of motorcycle clutch wires from in and around the spot.
“Preliminary investigation reveals that poachers had set up the snare to trap wild boars. It is suspected that the leopard which might have got ensnared on Monday night, later was throttled to death while trying to release its neck from the noose,” said Jadhav.
While postmortem of the carcass was conducted at the Bauda forest nursery, the report is awaited. As per Standard Operating Procedure of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the carcass of the leopard was disposed of after incineration. A case has been registered and further investigation into the incident is underway. Efforts are on to nab the poachers who had laid the snare, said the DFO.
A female leopard had died after falling into a snare set by poachers in Sorishapal jungle in 2019. No one has yet been arrested in this connection. The incident is said to have been hushed up by Athagarh forest division officials.