5 leopard cubs burnt to death in field in Maharashtra

MUMBAI: In a shocking incident, five leopard cubs were killed in Maharashtra as farm workers burnt trash in a sugarcane field on Wednesday. The cubs were born in the farm at least three weeks before, police said.

The incident happened near  Awasari village in Junnar tehsil of Pune Wednesday.

"We were there to cut the harvest. The farm owner asked us to burn trash in the field and we did so, unaware that the cubs were there," a farmworker said. 

According to police, farm workers tried to burn dry waste of the farm, following which a blaze broke out. After some people in the area noticed the cubs, the fire brigade, police and forest department were alerted. But it was too late as by then the cubs were charred to death, the official said.

The carcasses were handed over to forest department officials after post mortem, police said.