Bilaspur, Feb 8 (PTI) A leopard was killed by poachers in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur forest division, a senior official said on Tuesday.

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The carcass of the animal, around 8 years old, was found on Monday evening near Bitkula village in Sipat-Sonthi forest range and the claws of its rear legs had been cut off by poachers, Bilaspur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Kumar Nishant said.

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"Two nails of the front legs are missing too. The poachers also made an unsuccessful attempt to extract the big cat's teeth. It does not seem to be the handiwork of trained or habitual hunters," he said.

"Prima facie, the cause of death seems to be electrocution. However, we are awaiting more details from the autopsy report. A probe into the incident is underway," the DFO added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)