MYSURU: Two leopards were poisoned to death at Hanchipura in the Bandipur forest range on Tuesday.
On a tip-off, Range Forest Officer Naveen Kumar and his staff rushed to the village and found a leopard struggling for life. It died on the way to hospital.
The leopards, thought to be siblings, were one-and-a-half years old. One of them was black because of melanism, or undue development or a dark pigment. (Melanism is the opposite of albinism, which refers to the partial or full absence of pigment in the skin.)
The villagers had noticed the leopards roaming the fringes of the Bandipur forest. They allegedly sprayed poison on a dead dog and lured the leopards to eat it. A post-mortem has confirmed death by poisoning. “It was pre-emptive murder,” said M N Naveen Kumar, Bandipur wildlife warden. “Neither leopard had killed any cattle in the village.”
Those involved could be imprisoned for up to 10 years. Hullahalli police have registered a case. p8
