From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Even as straying leopards and other wild cat species continue create panic in Guwahati city for over a month, a female leopard was found dead on the western foothills of the Nilachal hills, atop which the Kamakhya temple is situated, here on Monday.
The carcass of the leopard was spotted besides a road at the Pandu side of the Nilachal hills early Monday morning by local people. It is suspected to have been electrocuted while attempting to cross over a bamboo grove, which had electric wires passing over it.
Forest department officials later took away the carcass. This is the second instance of a leopard being killed in the city since last week after a cub was run over by a train.
Besides, four leopards have been rescued and two more sighted at various places of the city since the beginning of January.
There have been frequent incidents of leopards straying into human habitat in Guwahati city basically due to shrinking of forest cover in and around the city which has at least 18 hills in and around it where forest cover is at the mercy of invading human population.
Leopard is an endangered species and protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Wildlife biologist Dr Firoz Ahmed which has been working on conservation of tigers and leopards in the Northeast region, commented that it was natural for leopards to come out their habitat around this time of the year in search of new habitats.
“When the leopards come out looking for new habitats during the winter months, it usually come in contact with human beings thereby exposes itself to danger of being attacked by panic-stricken people,” Dr Ahmed said.
Guwahati has a number of wildlife species including several highly endangered ones in the forest areas in its outskirts and the hills within the city. At least 20 leopards including several cubs have been killed in the city in the past two decades.