COIMBATORE: Fourteen hours after being caught using a trap net and tranquillised, a five-year-old female leopard that had allegedly killed eight goats and continued venturing into residential areas over the last few days in Onapalayam area in Coimbatore died due to suspected septicemia at Maruthamalai foothills on Tuesday afternoon.
District Forest Officer of Coimbatore Forest Division N Jayaraj said, “The animal had bite marks of another carnivore indicating that it may have been injured in a fight with another animal that resulted in the septicemia. The animal’s right and upper and lower canines were also broken, and it could have ventured into agricultural areas in search of easy prey like goats.”
The officer added, “We also noticed multiple fractures at the right elbow joint in the legs, and during the postmortem, we found kidney and heart failure in the animal due to septicemia.”
‘Big cat did not respond to treatment’
A team from the ATR of the Coimbatore Forest Range, with the assistance of Coimbatore forest veterinarian A Sukumar, successfully captured the leopard using a trap net and transferred it into a cage after tranqulising it on Monday night.
After checking the health condition, a veterinary team started providing treatment to the animal by keeping it at the forest staff quarters at Maruthamalai foothills.
However, the animal died on Tuesday. The big cat had killed four goats at Onapalayam on March 1. It had also killed four goats near Kembanur. It had allegedly ventured into the Bharathiar University campus on March 5. “After the postmortem, the animal’s carcass was burnt as per NTCA guidelines,” said the official.