Wild leopard came to safe Gorewada enclosure, the female leopard was killed
Chandani absence of moonlight from the night enclosure for at least about a week had put the zoo officials on full alert.
Nagpur: In a very shocking incident, a wild male leopard entered the secure safari enclosure of Gorewada Zoo and killed a resident female leopard. The carcass of a female leopard, popularly known as Chandani, was found inside the Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoological Park on Monday.
Chandani absence of moonlight from the night enclosure for at least about a week had put the zoo officials on full alert. He had also started looking for Chandani on Friday. And to catch Chandani, a trap was also set up inside the leopard safari zone at Gorewada zoo.
On Monday morning, a leopard was also trapped in the cage net, but the officials were quite surprised to see that it was not Chandani but a wild male leopard. And also after this the search for Chandani has been started on a war footing. Later his body was found.
Forest officials even say that it seems that Chandani died of injuries sustained during the fight with the male leopard. And also the male leopard has just been released into the wild. The authorities have not fully confirmed whether the leopard was released in Pench or another tiger reserve.
People contracted to look after the zoo should immediately find out
While the Gorewada Zoo officials have issued a very concise and to-the-point statement about the incident, Sources have even said that wild leopards were often seen in the enclosure in the past.
A source who used to work in the zoo even said, “For at least three months we are aware of the movement of a wild leopard inside this enclosure. The leopard seems to have found a way to enter and exit the so-called highly secured enclosure with ease and at will. We have also heard that there are two female leopards who are pregnant, and it is possible that this male leopard interacted with them.”
The source further added, “Even resident leopards can use the route. In this way, the entry and exit of the leopard will be done in the enclosure of the park. This can lead to untoward incident. The people contracted to look after the zoo should immediately find out how the leopard entered the secure enclosure.”
TOI has also tried to know the answer from the forest officials in this regard, but till the time of writing this news, no answer was received in any way.
