Leopard, bison electrocuted by wire set up by poachers in Chhattisgarh forest

According to forest officials, preliminary findings indicate that poachers had installed a thin electric wire targeting small wild animals

RAIPUR: A leopard and a bison died by electrocution after coming into contact with a live wire set up illegally to poach small animals in Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund district, a forest official said on Tuesday.

According to forest officials, the bison is believed to have been electrocuted first, while the leopard may have been drawn by the smell of the remains and also got electrocuted upon contact. (Representational image)

The officials said that a case has been registered and efforts are on to arrest the accused.

Mahasamund divisional forest officer (DFO) Pankaj Rajput said that the carcasses of the two animals, both aged between five and six years, were discovered on Monday in a forest near Khallari village, located in the Bagbahra forest range.

Khallari lies about 80 km from the state capital, Raipur.

Forest personnel immediately reached the site and initiated the post-mortem process.

“Preliminary findings indicate that poachers had installed a thin electric wire targeting small wild animals. The bison is believed to have been electrocuted first, while the leopard may have been drawn by the smell of the remains and also got electrocuted upon contact,” Rajput said.

“We have detained a few people and interrogation is going on,” said the DFO.