Latest News | Leopardess Found Dead in UP's Katarniaghat Forest
Get latest articles and stories on Latest News at LatestLY. The carcass of a one-year-old leopardess was found in the Kakraha forest range of the Katarniaghat Wildlife Division here, forest officials said on Wednesday.
Bahraich (UP), Apr 9 (PTI) The carcass of a one-year-old leopardess was found in the Kakraha forest range of the Katarniaghat Wildlife Division here, forest officials said on Wednesday.
Preliminary investigation suggests the feline may have died following a territorial fight with another leopard.
This is the third leopard death in the region this year. In 2024, four leopard deaths and one tiger death were reported in the same division.
Forest officials said villagers spotted the carcass near the banks of the Bhada river in the Chandahaar Beat under the Kakraha Range on Monday and alerted the authorities.
Talking to reporters on Tuesday, Divisional Forest Officer B Shivshanker said a forest team immediately reached the spot and took possession of the carcass.
“Initial evidence suggests the leopardess may have died in a fight with a bigger leopard, which possibly fed on her remains post-conflict,” the DFO said.
As per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) laid down by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a postmortem examination was conducted by a panel of three veterinarians on Tuesday.
The examination was carried out in the presence of local representatives, senior forest officials, and WWF Project Officer Dabeer Hasan.
Samples of the leopard's internal organs have been preserved and will be sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Izzatnagar, Bareilly, for detailed analysis.
Javed Akhtar, a wildlife behaviour expert based in Lucknow, said while territorial fights between leopards are not uncommon, cannibalism among them is “a dangerous behavioural shift.”
Earlier, on Saturday evening a two-year-old leopardess was killed after being hit by a speeding heavy vehicle in the Mala range of the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve.
(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)