Another leopard dies near Dholbaha forest

Wildlife officials were informed about a leopard getting caught in the snare and a team was rushed to the spot. They overpowered the leopard with a net but in the absence of a tranquilising gun,the shot was manually administered with the help of a syringe to make the animal unconscious and bring it to the rescue station. There are allegations that the animal could have died of a tranquiliser overdose.

Chief Wildlife Warden Gurbaz Singh,however,said only a two-millilitre dose of the tranquiliser was given,while the young animal could be given eight to ten millilitres. “The animal got trapped in the wires and struggled so much to get free that it even uprooted the poles meant to support the wires and got dangerously exhausted. No doubt the dose was given manually but that was within the limits,” said Singh.

In December,a leopard died in the same area after being trapped in a similar fashion. Before that,another young leopard was found dead in the forests of Ropar district and its claws and canine teeth were found missing. “Here,poaching is not the reason. Due to the snow and scarcity of food in the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh,the animals stray into Punjab areas and get trapped,” said Gurbaz Singh.

“This is the third leopard to die and departmental negligence is writ large. Why cannot we protect the animals? I do not buy the theory that all of them stray from Himachal. Punjab’s Kandi forest area is the habitat of leopards and the wildlife department is failing to protect the animals,” said former honorary wildlife warden Sukhdeep Singh Bajwa.

He demanded a high-level probe into the death of leopards and said he would take up the matter with the senior authorities.

Gurbaz Singh,meanwhile,said senior officials from the wildlife department had already reached the spot and a thorough probe would be conducted. “I have written to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) for a scientific survey and study of the phenomena of leopards straying into the area and falling prey. We will do everything to protect the animals,” he said.