7-year-old leopard found dead

A seven-year-old male leopard stuck in a pipe in a canal died of suffocation at Velu in Jhagadiya Taluka in Bharuch district,officials said. Veterinary doctor Lakhman Nayka,who conducted post-mortem on the leopard,said the body was recovered from near the pipe in the canal in which it had got stuck on Saturday. A farmer who heard the roaring of the wild animal had informed the forest officials. It had slipped about 14 feet inside the pipe located underground. The forest officers dug up the land and broke the pipe to enable the leopard to come out. The leopard did come out and and disappeared into the near by forest area but was later found dead,he said adding the death was possibly due to suffocation.