A leopard cub was on Monday found dead on the outskirts of the Siddapuram village of the D. Hirehalmandal, under the Kalyanadurgam Reserve Forest area of the Anantapur district.
Forest officials, alerted by the villagers, went to the spot along with a veterinarian to investigate the matter.
Speaking to The Hindu, T. Samuel, Sub-District Forest Officer, said the cub was between 1 and 1.5 years and the death was not due to poaching or any other unintended human activity.
“The presence of a male and a female leopard with two cubs [male and female] was noticed in the Kalyandurgam reserve forest area for sometime. The death appears one related to mating related violence,” said Mr. Samuel.
The Forest Department, based on the post-mortem report of the veterinarian, too felt the same.
“The cub suffered a severed oesophagus probably due to a strong strike by its father. There were no notable visible injuries and poisoning has been ruled out. While the overwhelming opinion is that it is a natural death, the organs have been preserved to be sent to the CCMB [Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad] if need be,” said Mr. Samuel.
