Kerala: Leopard on prowl trapped in chicken cage, dies

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 29

A Leopard which broke open a chicken cage at a home in Palakkad during the early hours of Sunday was found dead in the morning. The leopard was trapped in the chicken cage of Philip in Mannarkkad.

Philip, while speaking to IANS said: "I woke up hearing the cries of the chicken and found the leopard. I immediately informed the police and the forest department authorities and forest officers told me that they would tranquilise the leopard and shift it. But the leopard died in the mean time."

The leopard's right hand got caught in the iron mesh of the Chicken cage and it was found hanging with the trapped hand. The body of the leopard was taken out by cutting the iron mesh and it was found that the hand that was trapped in the net was severely injured. The leopard suffered injuries on its lips also and forest officials presume that it would have injured the lips by hitting on the iron mesh of the chicken cage.

A postmortem will be conducted on the leopard to find out the reason for the death. However, a veterinarian while speaking to IANS said that the leopard would have died due to a heart attack after it got trapped in the chicken cage for a long duration.

A few days back, local people had seen a leopard and cubs near the area adjoining the forest in Mannarkkad and it is suspected that the deceased leopard and the one found would be the same. The postmortem report will provide more details about the leopard including its age.