A male leopard was found dead in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur forest division, with officials suspecting that it got electrocuted, an official said on Tuesday.
The carcass of a wild animal, aged 7 to 8 years, was found on Monday evening near Bitkula village in the Sipat-Sonthi forest range, Bilaspur Divisional Forest Officer Kumar Nishant said.
After being alerted, forest personnel rushed to the spot.
The male leopard was hunted by poachers who cut off the claws of two rear legs of the wild animal, the DFO said, adding the hunters also tried to extract the teeth of the leopard.
Prima facie it does not seem to be the work of habitual hunters, he said.
Preliminary investigation suggested electrocution led to the leopard’s death.
On Monday, the police arrested three persons for trying to sell the skin of a leopard in Dhamtari district.