LUCKNOW A two-year-old male leopard was on Wednesday morning found dead on Shaheed Path. The animal was apparently hit by a heavy vehicle on the elevated stretch near Ambedkar varsity in a first-of-its kind incident in a busy area of the city, said officials.
Locals said the incident was tragic, but also raised concern over the presence of a wild animal near a residential/commercial pocket of the city.
Wild animals keep passing through the peripheral areas of Lucknow, but a leopard entering a busy road after crossing residential and commercial pockets was a rare occurrence, said forest officials.
Primary investigations revealed that the leopard wandered from its natural habitat and accidentally came in front of a heavy vehicle that caused fatal injuries. Around 7.22am, the police control room received a call that an injured leopard was lying on Shaheed Path, said Ravi K Singh, divisional forest officer (DFO).
“Existence of animals in Lucknow’s peripheral areas is not new…the element of surprise is the presence of a wild animal on a busy road,” he said. The forest department lodged a case and the carcass was sent to the Lucknow Zoo for a post-mortem examination.
“The leopard’s body bore multiple injury marks that suggested it was hit by a heavy vehicle causing death due to multiple injuries,” said Dr Utkarsh Shukla, zoo veterinarian, who led the post-mortem team.
{{/usCountry}}“The leopard’s body bore multiple injury marks that suggested it was hit by a heavy vehicle causing death due to multiple injuries,” said Dr Utkarsh Shukla, zoo veterinarian, who led the post-mortem team.
{{/usCountry}}In the past, many leopard sightings had been reported from the Jankipuram area of the city. In CCTV footages, the animals were seen moving around homes in colonies at midnight.
“The CCTV footage would reveal how the animal died or if there was any foul play by any wildlife crime gang,” said Singh.
“The animal might have lost its way and got disoriented due to excessive noise on the busy road, leading to the accident,” said Rupak De, former principal chief conservator of forest, UP.
Officials said the stretch along Shaheed Path and some pockets in Jankipuram were natural habitats of animals in the past where houses came up.
“Recently, we rescued a leopard from Kisan Path. This one had also wandered away from its natural habitat,” said Singh.
“I often travel via Shaheed Path and it remains busy almost all the time. An animal, that too a leopard, climbing the elevated road and then being hit by a vehicle is something I never imagined. If this can happen, then animals can also enter residential areas,” said Rakesh Kumar Sharma, a resident of Gomti Nagar.
LEOPARD SIGHTINGS IN THE PAST
DEC 2021 A male leopard injured seven people in Gudamba police station area comprising Kalyanpur, Adilnagar, Paharpur, Phulbagh, and Jankipuram (Sector-H).
FEB 2018 An inspector posted with Ashiana police station shot dead a leopard spotted in one of the houses in the area. This animal had been wandering in different areas of Ashiana for over four days. A leopard was also spotted in Chinhat during this period.