J-K: Carcass of leopard found, another spotted in Doda

The carcass of a leopard was today found in Dudwar Changa area under Bhaderwah forest division of Doda district,
The carcass was first spotted by some children who informed it to the police who then took it in their custody for postmortem late this afternoon.
"After receiving the information, we immediately reached the spot and shifted the carcass to Gandoh Hospital. According to preliminary investigation, it seems that one leg of the leopard got amputated in the trap and later it was shot at.
"As of now, we are waiting for the postmortem report, which is being conducted by a veterinary doctor at Gandoh," SDPO Gandoh Sunny Gupta said.

"Leopards are found in abundance in forest region and animal conflicts are frequent in this area. On Saturday night too, one adult male leopards was spotted near Ganpat bridge," wildlife Warden Kishtwar, Pankaj said.
"We have started the investigation, anybody found guilty of killing the animal will booked under Section 9 of wildlife Act, which is a non bail able offense with 6 years of rigorous imprisonment, Pankaj added.

Leopards are considered one of the most secretive, solitary and partially arboreal animal and with their population on decline, they have been placed under Schedule-1 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
However, they are found in large numbers in Chinab Valley.

During last one month, man-animal conflict is on rise in Chinab Valley and a boy was mauled to death in Nalwa village of Doda and four villagers were attacked and badly injured by the wild beast in different incidents in Gandoh and Kishtwar.
"Since last one month, we have caged five leopards and a bear and sent them to Manda wildlife sanctuary. A party is on mission in Ganpat bridge area to trap the leopard, which was reportedly spotted and photographed by some Villagers yesterday," Pankaj said.