Four-year-old female leopard found dead in Yeoor forest

R Pawar, range forest officer of Yeoor, said the body of the leopard was found near Chikhalacha Pani area of Yeoor at 11.30am on Saturday. The body had started decomposing.

A four-year-old female leopard was found dead in the Yeoor range of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) on Saturday morning.

A four-year-old female leopard was found dead in the Yeoor range of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) on Saturday morning. (Representative Image) (HT Photo)

The forest department said the leopard died of natural causes and ruled out any possibility of poaching in its preliminary examination.

R Pawar, range forest officer of Yeoor, said the body of the leopard was found near Chikhalacha Pani area of Yeoor at 11.30am on Saturday. The body had started decomposing.

“The body was spotted by our officials on patrol duty in the east side of the forest. The leopard’s carcass was three to four days old, there were no injury marks, and all her nails and teeth were intact. Thus, we do not suspect the leopard was killed for poaching,” Pawar said.

The leopard’s body has been sent for post-mortem. “The preliminary report indicated that the animal died of natural causes and there was no foul play. We have also sent the viscera for further testing. The leopard did not have any chip installed on it,” he said.

A month ago, on February 20, another leopard had strayed into a mall in the city and was trapped in the basement of a hotel on Pokharan Road number 1. The leopard was rescued and released into the wild.