Leopard carcass found near Kalesar sanctuary

YAMUNANAGAR: A young male leopard, aged around four, was found dead at Uttamwala village in Yamunanagar district on Friday. The villagers noticed the carcass late on Thursday night and immediately informed the wildlife officials and the district police.
Uttamwala is situated on the outskirts of Kalesar wildlife sanctuary, which is known for housing Indian leopards, Asiatic elephants and endangered panthers as per the report of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun.The wildlife officials suspect that the leopard died of backbone injuries following a territorial fight in the Kalesar forest range.
A team of wildlife officials, led by Kalesar Range inspector Rajesh Chahal has taken the body into custody to ascertain the exact cause of death.
Kathgarh panchayat panch Balbir Singh said, “There leopard’s body was infested with worms.”
Panchkula district wildlife officer Shiv Singh told TOI, “It is suspected that the leopard died of injuries sustained in territorial fight with another male leopard in the forest range. It probably fell from a hill and suffered serious injuries in the backbone and was not able to walk properly. The animal may have been wandering in the area for the past some days with infection and injuries. A team od two doctors has conducted a post-mortem of the leopard and we will get the report by Monday.”
He added that as per the report of year 2016 of the WII, there are around 22 leopards in Kalesar range.