A leopard was found dead on the National Highway (NH) 44 near Khatushyam temple in north Delhi’s Alipur in the early hours of Wednesday, police said. This comes just days after a leopard was sighted multiple times in south Delhi’s Sainik Farms area.
Police said they received a PCR call at around 4am and upon reaching the spot, found the animal lying on one side of the road.
“This prima facie appeared to be a case of traffic accident. The body has been taken into the custody and forest department informed for further necessary action,” said DCP (outer north) Ravi Kumar Singh.
Though generally sighted in parts of south Delhi abutting the southern ridge, which is an extension of the Aravallis into Delhi, isolated sightings of leopards in north Delhi have also been reported in the recent past.
In December 2015, there were reports of a leopard in north Delhi’s Usmanpur, around 15 kms from this spot. The leopard was never captured though. Next year in December 2016, a leopard was sighted multiple times at the Yamuna Biodiversity Park in north Delhi. The big cat had to ultimately be trapped in a cage and released in the Shiwalik range near Saharanpur, after local residents living around the biodiversity park complained that they perceived the leopard as a threat.
The leopard at Sainik Farms was spotted first on the night of December 1, with at least two videos surfacing online of the animal, which was later spotted multiple times by locals, forest officials and the police. The big cat was last sighted on December 6 and is now suspected to have returned to the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, where at least 8 leopards are said to be living.
This is not believed to be the same leopard, a forest official said, stating more details will be shared following a post-mortem.
Article source: hindustantimes.com
