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Leopard cub succumbs to injuries in Haridwar

After struggling for life for over a week, a young leopard, which was rescued from the Haridwar Collectorate canteen premises last week, died in the Chidyapur rescue centre on Sunday night.

Veterinary doctors attending the injured leopard said that the animal had started showing improvement. The young leopard, which was on liquid diet since its rescue, had also started consuming solid food from the past two days.

The leopard had strayed into the Haridwar Collectorate canteen premises in Roshanabad here last week and was tranquilised and trapped after it injured a teenager there. The leopard itself was also injured and forest department officials said that it may have been wounded in a fight with another feline in the Rajaji national park.

The injured leopard was rescued from a bathroom in the Collectorate canteen, where it had been locked for more than four hours and later sent to Chidyapur rescue centre for medical treatment.

Since Friday, the leopard had started taking its regular diet. “On Wednesday, we finally fed the animal some chicken soup. The young leopard’s condition was improving and it had started taking solid food from the past two days ago. We were infact, planning to set it free soon,” S P Saini, in-charge of the rescue centre said. The leopard was injured and had trespassed into the Collectorate canteen in a bid to hide itself last Thursday. The animal attacked one of the employees of the Collectorate canteen who were sleeping there. The injured leopard was darted several times and tranquilised to be later caged and sent to Chidiyapur.

After struggling for more than a week in the rescue centre, the leopard had gone into coma on Saturday morning. While veterinary doctors were attending and trying to revive the animal, it succumbed suddenly on Sunday night. Officials said that the leopard had acute respiratory problems and died because of suffocation. Its body was later cremated in the National Park on Monday Morning.