Pune: Autopsy finds claws, paw missing from leopard carcass; 3 ‘stole’ them for making lockets

The Maharashtra Forest Department has booked a sugarcane-cutting worker and his two minor sons for allegedly chopping and stealing claws and one paw of a dead sub-adult leopard. The carcass of the 10-month-old female leopard was found in a sugarcane field in Vadgaon Shinde village near Pune on February 8.

As per officials from the Pune Division of the Maharashtra Forest Department, the autopsy showed that the big cat may have died in a suspected dog attack. However, during the autopsy, it also came to light that some nails of the forelegs of the leopard had been plucked and one of the hindleg paws had been cut with a sharp weapon.

A probe was launched by the forest department officials and a dog squad was brought to the location. Based on the initial clues and building on the information obtained by some sugarcane-cutting workers, it came to light that the man and his two teenage sons were involved.

The 35-year-old sugarcane-cutting worker and his two minor sons aged 14 and 16 were questioned and four leopard nails and the paw were recovered from them. Investigators said the three had found the dead leopard a couple of days before and had plucked its nails and one paw to make lockets. They have been booked under the Wildlife Protection Act.