Punjab poachers gun down dump 2nd leopard in a week

CHANDIGARH: In less than a week's span, another leopard was brutally gunned down by poachers in Punjab, this time on the Balachaur-Anandpur Sahib road near Bhaddi. The male of 5-6 years of age was found this morning with at least 5 large-sized "buckshot" pellets discharged from a suspected .12 bore shotgun lodged inside the body. On last Tuesday, a cub was found shot, hacked and chewed by vicious hunting dogs near Nikku Nangal village.
This is the third leopard to have suffered an unnatural death due to gunshot wounds in Punjab since April 2018."The post-mortem examination was conducted on Monday near Anandpur Sahib. The skin of the leopard and all the claws were found intact except for one missing claw on the foreleg. We have filed an application for registration of an FIR at the Nurpur Bedi Police Station," DFO (Wildlife), Ropar, Kulraj Singh, said.
DFO: Poachers not interested in leopard skin, body parts
Ropar’s DFO (wildlife) said: "We have increased night-time patrolling, set up check-points and announcements delivered from religious places to seek public help in nabbing the culprits. We have increased the checking of those given permits to hunt wild boars and neelgai that damage crops. In the Nikku Nangal case, we brought a suspect from Himachal Pradesh for questioning but had to let him off as found no evidence against him," .
The large size of the pellets retrieved from the leopard's carcass during postmortem examination coupled with the fact that the body was found largely intact indicates the culprits were not after the skin / claws or other body parts. The fact that they left thebody by the road shows the culprits had little fear of the law catching up with them. The large pellets loaded in shogun "buckshot" cartridges are the ones used by poachers commonly to shoot boars and deer for meat but the leopard being a soft-skinned animal is very vulnerable to a discharge of a volley of these pellets from close range. The autopsy showed a volley of large pellets in a tight pattern had struck the leopard under the spine on the left side.
"Poachers hunt at night using powerful torches to down boars and deer. But they regard the leopard as a danger to their hunting dogs and to themselves. Hence, trigger-happy poachers gun down a leopard when encountered and leave it there as they are not interested in its skin and body parts. This particular leopard, whosebody was recovered from Bhaddi, was known to sometimes come along the roadside, both by day and night. At night when poachers shine powerful flashlights, the leopard can freeze when caught in the glare and lends the poachers an easy shot at close range. The dead leopard was lying for two days before the authorities came to know of the unnatural death," Nangal-based wildlife conservationist, Parbhat Bhatti, said after having witnessed the post-mortem on Monday.
Leopards are accorded the highest immunity under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and imprisonment for poaching can entail a seven-year term. Leopards have also died in Punjab due to botched rescue operations, clutch-wire / metal traps and mob lynching.