2 leopard cubs found dead over weekend in UP’s Katarniyaghat sanctuary

The carcass of another leopard cub was found under Murtiha forest range of Katarniyaghat Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) on Saturday. The first carcass was found in Majhawa village of the range on Friday while the second body was found in Tediya village of the same range.

On Friday, a cow was also found dead in the sanctuary. The carcass of the second cub was spotted almost 50 metres away from the place where the cow’s body was found, field director of Dudhwa Katarniya Reserve Forest Ramesh Pandey said. The cubs were 12 months to 15 months old, he added.

Denying any animal-human conflict, the forest department claimed that both the cubs were killed by an adult.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) Gyan Prakash Singh said a seven-year-old leopard was seen in the camera trap in the area. The DFO added that the leopard killed a cow in the area where the carcass of a male leopard cub was found.

He further said it might be possible that the cub reached near the stalk and was killed by the adult leopard. The DFO further said the killer leopard ate cow partly on Friday and then on Saturday around 80 per cent portion of the carcass was found eaten.

The DFO said a team of doctors from the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, will conduct the post-mortem of both the cubs to ascertain the cause of deaths.

Moreover, the officer said the forest department was observing ‘Tiger Safety Month’ from December 1 to 31 to raise awareness among the villagers about tigers and to avoid man-animal conflicts.

The DFO said various programmes would be organised in the villages along the sanctuary area to make the villagers aware of protection of tigers and about how they can protect them from falling prey to wild animals.

(With PTI inputs)