Dibrugarh: The carcass of an adult male leopard was recovered from Chamua village under the Khowang forest range in Dibrugarh district on Sunday morning.According to locals, the leopard had been prowling the area for nearly a month, repeatedly raiding homesteads and preying on livestock including chickens, goats, and cattle.
The animal’s frequent incursions had left residents on edge, with families afraid to venture out after dark and farmers struggling to protect their animals.Upon receiving information about the carcass, a forest team from Khowang reached the spot, recovered the body, and transported it for a postmortem examination to determine the cause of death.Khowang forest ranger Akshay Buragohain said the postmortem findings would be crucial in establishing how the leopard met its end.
“We have recovered the carcass of an adult male leopard from Chamua Gaon. The postmortem will be conducted tomorrow, after which we will be in a position to say what caused the animal’s death,” he said.It remains unclear at this stage whether the leopard died of natural causes, injuries sustained during a conflict with locals, or any other reason. The postmortem report is expected to provide clarity on the cause of death.
The incident once again throws the spotlight on the worsening human-leopard conflict across upper Assam — a crisis that wildlife experts and environmentalists say is being fuelled by rapid deforestation and shrinking forest cover. As natural habitats continue to diminish, leopards are increasingly being pushed towards human settlements in search of food, triggering confrontations that often prove fatal — for both people and animals.
