Mumbai: Leopard cub with broken neck found dead near Aarey forest

A six-month-old male leopard cub was found dead in Goregaon on Thursday morning. Forest officials carrying out a probe suspect it was killed by an animal as it bled out to death from wounds on the neck.

“Its neck was broken. We have sent the body for post-mortem, but according to preliminary observations, a bigger animal, probably an adult leopard, killed it,” said Range Forest Officer (RFO) Rakesh Bhoir.

When asked if such wildlife conflicts could impact the population of leopards, wildlife activist Pawan Sharma, said, “The forest has a dense population of leopards so a territorial fight is possible. Aarey and Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) are well connected and there are high chances of such inter-leopard conflicts.”

Sharma said a possible reason for the conflict could be a new animal being pushed out of SGNP. “May be an animal was on the move to establish its territory; sometimes other males from the same territories also tend to kill cubs of a female to prepare her for next mating,” he said.

Last September, a leopard cub was found dead inside Film City without any injury signs. As per the post-mortem, it succumbed to respiratory distress, head trauma and internal bleeding.