(UTV | COLOMBO) – Hot on the heels of the death of a rare black leopard in Nallathanniya, another leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya), that was trapped in a snare at a private land in Neluwa, Galle was found dead today, Wildlife Conservation Department Director General M.G.C. Sooriyabandara said.
He told to an online news portal in the isle that they would hope to take legal actions against the owner of the land as they suspected that the snare was set by the owner of the land.
”The leopard was first captured by a wildlife officer who subsequently informed the relevant officials,” Sooriyabandara said.
“The postmortem of the leopard is being carried out by the wildlife doctors,” Sooriyabandara added.
The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is a leopard subspecies native to Sri Lanka that was first described in 1956 by the Sri Lankan zoologist Deraniyagala.
The survival of the Sri Lankan leopard is threatened due to habitat loss and fragmentation primarily with some levels of direct poaching and direct and indirect human-leopard related leopard deaths.
Meanwhile, Sooriyabandara said another leopard, that was trapped in a snare was released after being rescued by the wildlife officers in Yatiyanthota three days ago.
“The leopard was released as there were no injuries at the time it was rescued,” he added.