COIMBATORE: Two leopard cubs were run over by an unidentified vehicle on the Devala-Pandalur highway in the Richmount area of the Nilgiris district on Friday.
The accident occurred on Friday morning on the stretch falling under the Pandalur Beat of Pandalur Range in Gudalur Forest Division. Officials recovered the carcasses from the roadside. As per protocols of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a postmortem was conducted in the presence of DFO, Gudalur Forest Division, P Devaraj. Veterinary assistant Dr Rajesh Kumar was involved in the procedure. The Pandalur Forest Range has registered a case and an investigation has been launched to ascertain how the accident happened and identify the vehicle involved.
Forest officials told TNIE that the cubs might have been hit by a vehicle when crossing the road with their mother. This must have been around 6.30 am. Both cubs (one female and the other male) were five months old. The male cub was partially crushed. The postmortem report is still awaited, they said.
Tiger cub found dead
In another incident, the forest officials have recovered the carcass of a year-old female tiger cub from the Moyar Dam channel area in Masinagudi Range of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR). The autopsy revealed drowning as the cause of the death. Forest officials suspect the cub may have accidently fallen into the channel while trying to cross it or drink from it.