The leopard that was rescued from the Nayapura village by forest officials around two months back has more than 40 shrapnel embedded in its head, a CT scan done at Van Vihar, Bhopal has revealed said divisional forest officer Dr Kiran Bisen It is clear from the wounds that someone had brutally shot at the leopard damaging its eyes in the process, the official added.Incidentally, the leopard became the first in the country to undergo a CT scan, while the first-ever CT scan conducted on a wild animal was reported in 2011 on a wild bear . However, it took months and 12 days for the forest officials to get the CT scan done.
The leopard has returned to Indore city zoo where it is staying after the scan, but officials here have not received the scan report, said zoo in-charge Dr Uttam Yadav.
Forest officials had initially said that the leopard had been injured and lost its eyesight due to infighting. However, the zoo officials had been skeptical about the claim as it is very rare for leopards to lose their eyesight due to a fight with another leopard.
The local officials at the zoo became aware that the leopard had lost its eyesight after they saw that it was using its strong sense of smell to reach to its food even though it was in plain sight. Local zoo officials here are hoping that the optic nerves are not totally damaged.
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