Three leopards found dead after eating dead dog

Mysore/Mysuru: The intention of killing a dog by poisoning resulted in the tragic death of three leopards — a mother, a male and a female cub — at Belavadi village this morning. Ironically, it is World Biodiversity Day today (May 22), observed to increase understanding and awareness about biodiversity issues. 

The leopard mother aged about 4 – 5 years and her cubs aged 8 – 10 months were found dead by some villagers early this morning in the coconut and mango plantation of one Nanjunda at Belavadi. A plastic packet of poison-laced food and a carcass of a half-eaten dog were found nearby. 

The dog’s carcass had turned bluish giving credence to the theory that it has been poisoned. The leopards died after eating the dead dog and one of the feline had blood stains in its mouth. 

It is suspected that out of neighbourhood enmity, some villagers wanted to kill the dog but this inhuman act led to the tragic death of the leopards. The cubs were in a position to eat meat and would have lived separately from its mother in another two months. 

The Forest Department officials have as of now registered a suspicious death case and a solid case under the provision of Wildlife Act would be registered after post-mortem reports come. The post-mortem is being conducted by Dr. Rajashekar, a veterinarian at Yelwal and Dr. Praveen of Mysuru Zoo. 

The photos showing the carcasses of leopards were widely circulated in the social media and many people presumed the leopards to be the same that were found near the BEML campus on the night of May 19. But Forest Department dismissed this as the mother and small three leopard cubs that were found in BEML campus were still in lactating state and are not in a position to eat meat. 

The Police team that arrived on the spot pressed dog squad into service and it led the teams to a couple of houses based on the scent caught from the plastic packet in which poison-laced food was placed to feed the dog. The Forest Department has summoned the services of Rana, the dashing German Shepherd dog at Bandipur Tiger Reserve to catch the perpetrators. Sniffer dog Rana, which has played a key role in many such operations, is expected to arrive at Belavadi. 

Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Project Tiger) Jagat Ram, Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) Dr. K.C. Prashanth Kumar, DCF Forest Mobile Squad A.T. Poovaiah, Range Forest Officer (RFO) Girish, DRFO Naveen, Vijayanagar Police Inspector Balakrishna, Wildlife Wardens Jeevan Krishnappa, Poorvaj Vishwanath and Kruthika Alanahalli were present.