Unknown vehicle mows down leopard on NH road in Salem; probe on

Salem: A male leopard, which had been roaming around Sankari in the district for a year, was mowed to death by an unidentified vehicle on Salem-Coimbatore National Highway here on Saturday night.According to a forest official, the leopard was first spotted in Suryamalai forest area in Devannakavundanur panchayat near Sankari in June 2025. "It entered the garden of a villager named Kandasamy and tried to attack him in June last year. Kandasamy escaped, entered the house and locked the door," he said. While the forest department installed a surveillance camera in the area the next morning after the attack bid to monitor the leopard movement, the same was never caught on camera. Last October, Salman, a truck driver from Sankari foothills, spotted a leopard crossing the National Highway near Mekkadu bus stop area in the early morning hours while he was returning from Bhavani in Erode district. He subsequently alerted the forest officials, who installed surveillance cameras to track the leopard movement, but in vain. In November, a farmer from Oruka Mala area near Sankari, also sighted a leopard while he was on his way to bring his cattle back home after grazing. He also informed the forest officials, who installed surveillance cameras to track the leopard movement, but with little success. In this wake, around 10.30pm on Saturday, a male leopard was found dead on the Salem-Coimbatore NH near Sankari after being hit by an unidentified vehicle. The carcass was found in the median area. Motorists on the stretch alerted the forest department. A team led by Salem district forest range officer Durai Murugan reached the spot and recovered the carcass, which was then taken to the Salem veterinary hospital for postmortem. He said they had registered a case and initiated an inquiry. "We are trying to identify the vehicle that hit the animal," he said.