Leopard cub found dead outside Gir

24-1-08

Leopard cub found dead outside Gir

Indian Express By Sibte Hussain Bukhari

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Leopard-cub-found-dead-outside-Gir/265004/

Junagadh, January 23 Infighting outside the Gir forest area between a female and a male leopard that had intruded into her territory, resulted in the death of the former’s cub, forest officers said. The incident came to light on Tuesday morning when the carcass of a one-year-old cub was found on the outskirts of the Hadmatiya village in Talala taluka in Junagadh district.

Deputy conservator of forest (Gir west) B P Pati, when contacted, said, a female leopard had taken shelter in the revenue area on the outskirts of the village when a male of the species intruded into its territory resulting in a fight leading to the death of the cub.

“Territorial dispute is the possible reason behind this incident. We have noticed three types of pugmarks and there clear signs of infighting at the incident site. There were also clear marks of a kill near the site,” Pati said.

He added that the carcass has now been shifted to the Sasan Gir forest headquarters for post-mortem.

He said the assistant conservator of forest (Jamwala Range) has now been asked to conduct an inquiry into the incident and submit the reports at the earliest.

In a separate incident, a minor fire broke out at the 400 steps en-route to Girnar Mountain on Tuesday afternoon. Forest department officials immediately rushed to the spot and doused the fire.

According to Range forest officer M N Parmar, “There is no damage to the forest and the fire has spread across only a small piece of land parallel to the staircase leading to the mountain peak.”

He added, “Some devotees or passers-by might have thrown a burning ‘beedi’ that started off the fire.”