Leopard found dead in tea estate

Foresters recovered the carcass of a full grown male leopard from Tirrihanna Tea Estate in Naxalbari today.

The predator had been sighted in the area on several occasions by the residents in the past few months.

“They had informed us about the animal and we had laid a cage in the area to trap it and were monitoring its movements,” said Kanchan Banerjee, the range officer of Sukna Wildlife Squad.

The carcass was spotted this morning by the chowkidar (guard) of the garden in the Jabra division located close to the Dalka forest.

“As soon as we received the information, our staff members passed it to the forest officials who came and took the body away,” said Jagmohan Shahi, the garden manager.

The carcass was brought to Sukna where three vets conducted the post-mortem. Forest sources said the animal might have been poisoned.

“Samples have been collected and would be sent to laboratories in Calcutta for tests,” said S.P. Yadav, the divisional forest officer of Kurseong. “We cannot say anything about the cause of death till the reports arrive.”

Source: The Telegraph