Yet another leopard found dead

The Pioneer , Thursday, August 05, 2010
Correspondent : Paritosh Kimothi | Dehradun
The body of a leopard was found in the Ramgarh block of Nainital District on Wednesday raising the number of deaths of the feline to about 71 in Uttarakhand since January this year. Locals found the body of the leopard on a road in the Jhutia area of Ramgarh in the morning and informed the Forest Department about it. According to Nainital Divisional Forest Officer Biju Lal TR who visited the site to recover the body of the feline, the post mortem examination of the leopard conducted in the Nainital Zoo established pneumonia as the cause of death of the female leopard aged about seven years which had also not eaten for the past eight days. However, wildlife activists state that cases of intentional poisoning of wild animals, especially leopards, are increasing consistently in Uttarakhand but department officials are trying to present such deaths as fatalities caused by natural factors like old age and sickness.

According to DFO Biju Lal the employees of the department in Ramgarh were informed about the it at about 8 am and the forester and range officer reached the site within 15 minutes and the body was taken to the Nainital Zoo for post mortem examination. The post mortem report revealed that the leopard had died of pneumonia which was exacerbated by the fact that the feline had not eaten anything for the past eight days. The viscera of the leopard will be sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in Bareilly for examination and to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun for DNA finger printing.

The DFO said that on visiting the site he was convinced that the death had not been caused by human actions like intentional poisoning as the area was sparsely populated and the nearest farms are located many miles away from the site from where the body of the leopard was found. According to the veterinarians who conducted the post mortem examination, it is common for wild animals to be afflicted by pneumonia during rainy season, added the DFO.

However, the explanation provided by the Forest Department is not convincing wildlife activists who question the possibility of a mature wild animal contracting pneumonia due to rains which haven't caused pneumonia in humans. However, local residents stated that the leopard died in agony because the site from where its body was found was dotted with scratch marks made by the feline. In the recent past at least two bovines and dogs in the area have been killed by a feline, and one of these kills was most likely poisoned by a local resident. People abandon their unproductive cattle to roam in the forests where they end up being preyed upon by wild cats which in turn increases the probability of the felines being habituated to preying on cattle. According to Rajendra Agrawal of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), there has been a consistent rise in incidents of leopards being poisoned by villagers but the department officials are trying to present these fatalities as natural deaths caused by factors like old age and sickness. If the otherwise fit leopard had not eaten for the past eight days, as revealed by the PM report, the feline's prey base in the forests has evidently decreased due to factors including poaching. In cases of leopard deaths reportedly caused by accidents or natural factors, once the viscera is sent to IVRI Bareilly for examination and the case is forgotten by the department.

As the State CM himself is in-charge of the Forest Ministry, only direct intervention from his office can protect the leopards in Uttarakhand because the department is not fixing the answerability for leopard deaths on its officials.

 
SOURCE : http://www.dailypioneer.com/273976/Yet-another-leopard-found-dead.html
 


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