Trapped Leopard's Tragic End Sparks Debate in Kerala

In Palakkad, Kerala, a four-year-old female leopard died after being trapped in a barbed wire fence and later tranquilized. Despite appearing healthy post-tranquilization, the leopard weakened and died in a cage. Wildlife officials suspect internal injuries but await autopsy results.

A leopard found trapped in a barbed wire fence in a village on the forest fringe died hours after it was tranquilised and rescued by wildlife officials in Kerala's Palakkad district on Wednesday.

The female leopard, estimated to be around four years old, was found tangled in the wire fence erected on a property owned by Unnikrishnan, a local resident, near Kollengode this morning.

Wildlife officials said the animal seemed healthy and active even after it was tranquilised with a dart and shifted to a cage by the Rapid Response Team (RRT) of the department.

A senior forest official said there was no external injury found on the carcass of the big cat after its death, and so an internal injury is suspected to be the cause of its sudden death.

However, that can only be confirmed only after an autopsy, which would be performed on Thursday morning, he said.

''The animal looked healthy...Even after darting, it was active and growled several times. It was tough for our personnel to shift it to the cage even after tranquilising,'' he told PTI.

The officer also rejected questions about whether the leopard died suddenly due to the impact of tranquilising.

''As per the veterinarian, the dart did not completely hit the animal, and only some amount of medicine got into its body. So there is no chance for that,'' he explained.

The wildlife official further said they did not shift the animal to the rescue centre soon after the darting and decided to keep it in the cage for some hours with the intention of giving it maximum rest.

But the animal gradually became weak and was found dead in the cage later, he added.

Local people said the presence of leopards has been reported in the place and in nearby areas several times in recent months.

A large number of villagers gathered in the area to catch a glimpse of the trapped leopard.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)