Leopard dies in suspected road accident

Raj Kumar, the divisional forest officer for Faridabad, said, “The carcass of the two-year-old female leopard was sent for a post-mortem examination, which suggests that it died due to a head injury after being hit by a vehicle around 4am on Monday.”

A two-year-old female leopard was found dead on the Pali-Surajkund road early on Monday, with autopsy reports suggesting it could have been hit by a vehicle, officials of the forest department said.

The incident was reported by traffic police around 10.15am, following which a team of the forest department staff collected the carcass. (HT file photo. Representative image)

Raj Kumar, the divisional forest officer for Faridabad, said, “The carcass of the two-year-old female leopard was sent for a post-mortem examination, which suggests that it died due to a head injury after being hit by a vehicle around 4am on Monday.”

The incident was reported by traffic police around 10.15am, following which a team of the forest department staff collected the carcass.

The stretch from where the leopard’s carcass was recovered is an ecologically sensitive area, as it is flanked by the Asola Bhatti wildlife sanctuary on both sides.

“We cannot call it a leopard corridor as such, but there is significant movement of leopards in the region. This is the first such case to be reported this year but roadkill incidents have been seen in this region before. Last year in October, a leopard was killed in a road accident near Mangar village on Gurugram-Faridabad road,” Kumar said.

Officials said they could not identify the vehicle due to the absence of CCTV cameras on the busy road, which cuts through a forest area.

A case is yet to be registered in the matter, as it is difficult to trace those responsible due to lack of surveillance, officials said.

Wildlife experts said the place where the carcass was found has a sharp bend and the authorities need to put in place safety measures to protect animals.

Sunil Harsana, a wildlife researcher from Mangar village in Faridabad, said, “The spot where the carcass was found is a fragmented forest area, as the road cuts through the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary. At such a place, if the animal has to cross the road, it will first jump off a wall, reach the road and jump another wall to enter the forest. Due to this fragmentation, such roadkill incidents take place. We have been requesting the forest department to take measures, such as creating an underpass or installing rumble strips so that vehicles slow down on the stretch.”

Besides the road cutting through the forest, heavy encroachments in villages of Ankhir and Mewla-Maharajpur that fall in the vicinity compound the problems for animals, experts said.

Chetan Agarwal, a city-based environment analyst, said, “The forests in that whole area has been fragmented with roads and illegally built farmhouses, the walls of which impede the movement of animals. In the past five years, many such cases of leopard depths have been reported from roads in the Aravallis.”

A monkey was also found dead at the same stretch on Monday afternoon.