RAIPUR: A three-year-old leopard, caught in a wire trap, gasped to an agonising death on Thursday as foresters stood watching for 12 hours, waiting for tranquiliser darts to be transported to the site in Chhattisgarh‘s Mohla Manpur, reports Partha Behera.
By the time it was rescued and taken to Nandanvan Jungle Safari in Nava Raipur, 160km away, it was too late.
Police say 44-year-old farmer Naval Singh set the trap to protect his livestock from wild animals, but the leopard got snagged in it on Tuesday.
According to DFO Dinesh Patel, the leopard could have been saved had it been rescued within two-three hours, but the local forest squad didn’t have tranquilisers.