Leopard found dead in snarl trap in Karnataka, say officials

A male leopard was found dead on Monday morning at Athur, near Kushalnagar in Kodagu district, officials aware of the matter said. It died due to suffocation caused by snarl trap and cable wire trapped in its stomach in a coffee estate.

Mysuru A leopard was found dead on Monday morning at Athur, near Kushalnagar in Karnataka’s Kodagu district, officials aware of the matter said.

A leopard was found dead on Monday morning at Athur, near Kushalnagar in Kodagu district, officials aware of the matter said. (MP Forest Department)

According to officials, the male leopard aged about four to five years died due to suffocation caused by snarl trap and cable wire trapped in its stomach in a coffee estate.The animal caught its head in snarl trap, tried to escape from it but succumbed. Soon after the incident, Madikeri deputy conservator of forest (DCF) A T Poovaiah and other officials rushed to the spot and collected information.

‘’Prima facie it was found to be a case of snarl trap. The villagers tried to trap wild animal...might be a wild pig,” Madikeri DCF A T Poovaiah said.

Kushalnagar range forest office registered a case under the wild life protection act 1972 and further investigation is underway, officials said.

“The coffee estate owners and farmers used to fix snarl traps to catch wild boars which are destroying crops. Somebody might have fixed trap to catch wild boars,” B K Kushalappa, a farmer in Athur said. The wild elephants, wild boars are destroying crops daily but forest officials did not provide suitable compensation despite requests, he added.

Madikeri DCF said the leopard was cremated after the post mortem. The body of the leopard was burnt as per guidelines. No other injury mark was found in the carcass, he said, adding that the officials have availed sniffer dog squad service from police department to trace the accused. He said the accused motive was not to hunt leopard as leopards are not troubling villagers in this region. The coffee estate in which leopard was found is adjacent to Athur reserve forest and wild boars may enter agricultural fields but killing pigs without permission of forest department is prohibited.

The accused will be nabbed soon, he added.