Nabarangpur: Unable to hunt due to injury, a leopard died of hunger in Umerkote of Odisha’s Nabarangpur district.
Confirming its death, Forest department sources on Tuesday said since the leopard was sick and limping, it could not hunt regularly. At times, it strayed into human habitats in search of food in Chhattisgarh.
The leopard had reportedly attacked a few locals in Gariaband district of the neighbouring state in the past. The villagers, who were panicked by the attack, they had even retaliated and tried to scare it back into the forests, the sources said.
But the big cat continued to stray into villages and the locals would drive it away. Finally, some of them spread a net and caught it alive. The leopard was then handed over to the Forest officials.
The officials tried to nurse the leopard back to normal condition. But the ailing animal, who had a leg injury and lost some teeth as well, was struggling to eat.
The officials were planning to relocate it to a safari in Nava Raipur but it died of starvation and sickness, the sources added.
