The body of a sub-adult female leopard was found at a tea plantation under the Naxalbari Block in Siliguri Sub-Division on Monday. Foresters said it may have died in infighting, as the animal has injury marks on its body.
The manager of the Merryview tea plantation, Manoj Tyagi, said a leopard was seen eating a rabbit at the old section of the tea garden in the morning on Monday, while and after some time, the body of another leopard was found nearby.
“We first saw a leopard eating a rabbit at around 8 am, and we immediately informed the forest department. The forest squad chased the animal away. After some hours, we started getting a foul smell, and spotted a body of a leopard lying around 500 meters away from the spot where another leopard was eating the rabbit. The carcass of a cow was also found near the body of the leopard,” Mr Tyagi said.
It appears that the cow was killed by one of the leopards. According to Mr Tyagi, as there was another leopard around the plantation, they have requested the forest department to intensify patrolling. A forest official said they rushed to the area soon after they received information and chased the animal away to the nearby Bagdogra forest.
“We are observing the situation and planning to conduct a search in the area with a dog squad,” the official said. The post-mortem of the leopard was conducted at the Bengal Safari: North Bengal Wild Animals Park near Siliguri on Monday.
“It appears that the leopard sustained injuries following a fight with another leopard. We have conducted the post-mortem and the cause would be ascertained after we get the reports,” divisional forest officer of Kurseong forest division Sandip Berwal said.
Mr Berwal said leopards often sneak into tea plantations during this time of the year to give birth, as the tea bushes provide natural cover for them. Wildlife experts said the presence of leopards in tea plantations have resulted in man-animal conflict in many cases, where the animals often get killed.