Man arrested for poisoning leopard to death in Odisha

Rourkela, Dec 12 (PTI) A 61-year-old man was arrested after a leopard was allegedly poisoned to death in Odisha's Sundargarh district, officials said on Friday.

The female leopard, aged about 4, died near Kusumdihi village in the Tamra range of the Bonai forest division after eating cattle meat, which was allegedly poisoned to trap the animal, they said.

Nuas Xess of Kusumdihi village was arrested in connection with the leopard's death, and he confessed to poisoning it, they added.

During interrogation, Xess revealed that one of his three cattle didn't return home on November 28. He traced its half-eaten carcass on December 2, Divisional Forest Officer Lalit Kumar Patra said.

"He did not report the death to the Forest Department. Instead, he poured insecticide on the carcass and waited to trap the animal responsible for killing it," Patra said.

"Xess used to visit the forest daily to check if any animal got trapped. The leopard was eventually trapped," he said.

It was the second incident in a week of a leopard being killed in the state. The earlier incident was reported from the Angul district. PTI COR BBM BBM SOM