23 June 2020 03:22 pm
A leopard mother was found dead while its cub was injured after they were caught in two separate snares at Kothmale last night, Director Wildlife Health at Department of Wildlife Conservation Dr. Tharaka Prasad said.
He told Daily Mirror that the deceased (mother) might be seven years old while the injured leopard (cub) is two years old.
“The Wildlife department is yet to identify the owner of the land where the snares were set and has decided to take legal actions against the owner,” Dr. Prasad said.
He said a special operation was launched to rescue the inured leopard which was in a critical condition.
However, he said the injured leopard was later released after providing relevant treatments,” he added.
He said they believed the snares might have been set up by poachers.
“The body of the leopard that was killed is to be referred to a postmortem examination, Dr. Prasad said.
Several leopards including a rare black leopard were killed after being caught in snares during the past several months. (Sheain Fernandopulle and Shantha Chandrasiri)