File
Chitwan, September 27
A leopard was found dead after becoming stuck to an electrical transformer on the premises of the Agriculture Campus in Rampur, Chitwan.
A post-mortem conducted on Saturday confirmed that the leopard died from electrocution.
According to Deviprasad Paudel, information officer at the Division Forest Office, the leopard was an approximately 10-month-old female. Its body was found stuck to the transformer.
A team of veterinarians and technical staff from the Biodiversity Conservation Centre in Sauraha, under the National Trust for Nature Conservation, examined the carcass and conducted the post-mortem. Dr Amir Sadaula, a veterinarian at the centre, said the examination confirmed that the leopard had died after receiving an electric shock.
A mother leopard and her cubs had been spotted in the Rampur settlement area in June and July. Following the sightings, the Division Forest Office and the Biodiversity Conservation Centre launched efforts to control the leopards. One of the two male cubs was captured and is currently being kept at the conservation centre.
Leopard activity had increased in the area since June, particularly in Wards 15 and 5 of Bharatpur Metropolitan City.
The Division Forest Office stepped up efforts to capture the leopards after they were spotted in bushes and around poultry farms near the Agriculture and Forestry University.
Paudel said drones were flown during the daytime and CCTV cameras, cage traps and leg traps were used as part of the efforts to control the leopards.
Of the two cubs, one was captured from bushes near Rampur and taken to the National Trust for Nature Conservation. The mother leopard continued to be spotted in settlement areas with the other cub.
Dr Sadaula said the leopard found dead could possibly have been the other cub from the same group.
—RSS
