However, residents of Rajapet Thanda refuse to believe the wild cat died because of internal injuries and suffocation. According to Sadan Lal, owner of the 10-acre farm where the animal was tranquilised and who alerted the authorities, the response of the Forest officials was lukewarm. The rescue team from Hyderabad reached here only at 11 a.m., and they managed to capture the wild cat by 1 p.m.,” he explained the timeline. A Forest official who was part of the Thursday rescue, told The Hindu: “There were at least five shots. However, it appears that the leopard got trapped in the chain link fence as the fence post got uprooted when the 70-kg wild animal tried to leap over it.

Source: The Hindu May 29, 2020 15:12 UTC