Leopardess killed in Pilibhit hit-and-run

Pilibhit: An unidentified vehicle mowed down an adult leopardess on the Nehru Nagar–Bhurjania road around 3km from the nearest forest patch in Sampurna Nagar forest range along the the Indo-Nepal border of Pilibhit district around 9pm on Friday. Forest teams are trying to trace the vehicle involved in the incident.While the spot falls within Pilibhit district, the adjoining forest stretch, part of the trans-Sharda belt, comes under the jurisdiction of Kheri’s North Forest Division. Forest range officer Lalit Kumar reached the spot with his team and shifted the carcass to the range headquarters for postmortem. Divisional forest officer Kirti Chaudhary told TOI that the animal suffered severe head injuries and haemorrhaging.“Several internal organs were found severely dislocated during the autopsy,” she said. “A departmental case will be registered under the appropriate sections of the Wildlife Protection Act,” Chaudhary said.