A three-year-old leopard named C-40 was found dead on Tuesday on a road near Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), officials said.
An autopsy of the animal ruled out any collision with the vehicle. An autopsy attributed the death to blunt trauma, possibly a fall from a height that ruptured the animal’s liver.
The leopard died of internal bleeding that led to hypovolemic shock, a condition in which severe blood loss prevents the heart from pumping enough blood.
“We are conducting further investigations into the animal’s death,” SNGP site director G Mallikarjuna said in a statement.
Maharashtra reported the highest number of leopard deaths in the country in 2021, accounting for 178 of the 614 such deaths, according to the nonprofit Indian Wildlife Conservation Society. Poaching accounts for nearly 30 percent of all deaths. Road accidents are the second leading cause of death for leopards in the state and nationally. At least 93 leopards have been killed in traffic accidents. In November 2020, a pregnant leopard was killed by an unidentified speeding vehicle on Ghodbunder Road.
Complete News Source : Hindustan Times
