2-year-old female leopard electrocuted in Gurugram

Gurugram: A two-year-old female leopard was electrocuted at Mandawar village in Sohna here. The feline was spotted hanging from high-tension wires passing alongside a tree on Thursday. Divisional Forest Officer, Gurugram, Shyam Sunder said a call was received from the village Sarpanch around 8.30 am. informing the Forest Department Inspector about a leopard hanging from high-tension wires Divisional Forest Officer, Gurugram.

Shyam Sunder said a call was received from the village Sarpanch around 8.30 a.m. informing the Forest Department Inspector about a leopard hanging from high-tension wires. "It is a clear case of electrocution. There is no foul play. It seems the feline came in contact with the wires while chasing prey, most probably a monkey. The face of the leopard is completely burnt," said Sunder.

Co-incidentally Mandawar is the same village where a male leopard was killed two years ago after it strayed into the village. Like then most of the environmentalists and residents criticised the move of the administration to lay high tension wires near the forest area.

According to official data 14 leopards that have been killed in four years. What is of more concern is that there has been increasing in the incidents of leopards coming into the human areas. Once natural aquifers, a major reason cited for this is depleting water table in the Aravallis. The man-made pits in Aravallis meant for meeting drinking water requirements for the fauna and are to be filled by officials through pipeline water. But, they are left dry as the officials stated that most of the pipelines are used for other construction activities and hence they are unable to meet the capacity of the pits.

According to the officials from Gurugram forest division, the depleting groundwater reserves in Aravallis and lack of drinking water are forcing the wild animals to go out of their boundaries in the search for the same. With the upcoming summer expected to further reduce groundwater level in Aravallis, the fear of more animals venturing into the residential areas for the purpose of drinking water and food have doubled. As roads are being built through the animal corridors due to rapid urbanisations and encroachments, threats to the safety of wild animals have increased.