Shopian: Two leopards appeared in Oudur village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district Wednesday evening in search of their purported family member killed by the locals last night leaving the whole village terrified, they said.
The locals of Oudur village had killed a leopard last night inside a cow shed where it had taken refuge after mauling nine sheep to death.
The sheep belonged to one Ghulam Mohammad Mir.
It appears now that the sheep were not killed by just that one killed beast. It is believed to be an ambush by a cat family altogether as two more leopards were spotted at the same cowshed where they might have mauled the sheep last night, a local told Kashmir Reader.
He said that the duo was seen near the cowshed at around 7 pm this evening after which the villagers raised hue and cry before the cats escaped the spot.
Earlier in the day, a team of Wildlife Department officials and Station House Officer of Police Station Keegam visited the village and recorded statements of the locals regarding the killing of the leopard last night.
A case under FIR number 04/2021 has also been registered in this regard.

In-charge Wildlife Control Room Shopian, Mudasir Ahmad told Kashmir Reader that the carcass of the leopard has been kept at Police Station Keegam where a departmental veterinarian will carry out its post mortem.

He said there were grave injures on the head of the killed leopard and its tooth were broken and an eye has been removed with the force of sticks.

He also informed that locals from the village have informed him about spotting of two more leopards this evening.
“They surely would have gone there in search of their partner. Our technical inputs suggest it was a leopard family,” the officer said adding that his team will try to catch the two leopards tomorrow to release them in a safer place.

Raashid Hassan