COIMBATORE/NILGIRIS: Two leopards, including a one-and-a-half-year-old female, were found dead in separate incidents in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) and the Gudalur Forest Division in the Nilgiris district.
In the first incident, a postmortem on Thursday revealed that the young leopardess died while attempting to hunt prey in Meenparai forest area of Manombolly Forest Range near Valparai.
“We noticed injury marks on the carcass, allegedly caused by the horns of a sambar or spotted deer. As the animal was young and had likely just begun hunting, it appears to have been fatally injured by the antlers. The injuries may have prevented it from feeding and also caused severe pain,” said Manombolly Forest Range Officer K Giritharan.
Field staff discovered the carcass on Wednesday evening, and the postmortem was carried out by veterinarians T Meyyarasan and Dharmaraj, in the presence of representatives from NGOs, including NCF and WWF. The carcass was later cremated as per NTCA guidelines.
In the second incident, a seven-year-old male leopard was found dead on Section 17 land at Silver Cloud Estate in the Gudalur Forest Range.
“There were no external injuries on the animal, ruling out death due to fighting or electrocution. We suspect natural causes since there was no prey in its stomach.
Samples of internal organs have been collected and sent for analysis to determine the exact cause of death,” said Forest Range Officer C Veeramani.
The official added that the carcass was found about 300 metres from the forest boundary. Estate workers first noticed the animal and alerted forest officials. The area is known to be frequented by leopards.