A leopard was found trapped inside a net near Sukkhu river, about 70 km away from the district head quarter, which later succumbed to injuries, a senior forest official said today.
Acting on a tip-off that a leopard was trapped in a net near the river, yesterday a team of forest department's rescue team rushed to the spot along with experts from Panna Tiger Reserve to save the big cat, Chattarpur Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF) Lal Singh Rawat said.
The rescue team tranquilised the leopard and pulled it out but due to excessive injuries it died, he said.
After post-mortem, the leopard's viscera was sent for forensic examination, Rawat said, adding suspected persons are being questioned on the issue.
Rawat informed that as per the Leopard census, which was conducted for the first time in the country, a total of 14,000 leopards were there in the country and among them maximum 1,817 were found in Madhya Pradesh.
Karnataka, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh stood at second, third and fourth place, respectively, in it.
