After being shot, leopard died of excessive bleeding

LUCKNOW: Two bullets pierced the body of the young leopard and it died due to hypovolemic shock, a condition that occurs when more than 20% (one-fifth) of the body’s blood or fluid is lost due to bleeding, revealed the post-mortem examination report on Sunday.

“Probably the first bullet entered through the right distal scapular region (upper limb or shoulder) and existed via right distal femoris (above thigh bone),” said K Praveen Rao, chief conservator of forests, Lucknow division.

The second bullet entered through the lower back and came out from the lower abdomen, said the post mortem examination report that was finalised on Sunday. The excessive bleeding (hypovolemic shock) was a result of the bullets fired on the leopard, which is a protected animal under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act. Punishment of maximum 7 years can be given to a person who kills such an animal intentionally.

The animal was killed on Saturday at around 7 am when it came out of the place where the forest staff had trapped it in Aashiana. The animal tore three nets placed to cover the area it was hiding in and tried to run away. The crowd followed it and finally it was shot dead when it entered the kitchen of a house.

ANIMAL ACTIVISTS RAISE QUESTIONS

‘Where are the bullets that killed the leopard?’ This and many more questions were raised by animal activists on Sunday, who also asked what led to the animal being killed and tranquilized despite the forest teams camping there since two days.

Kamna Pandey, an animal activist, termed the incident as a killing.

“All videos show police running behind the animal. The job of the police should have been to keep the mob away to allow the forest team to tranquilize the animal. But they only chased it, taking the mob along, which might have frightened the animal to react fiercely,” she said.

She also pointed that if bullets were fired inside a house, why were those that had pierced the animal not kept as evidence.

Locals who encountered the animal while it was trying to escape from Ashiana have demanded compensation from the administration.

They said that since they were injured during an operation to rescue the wild animal, they should be compensated.