A 4-year-old leopardess was found electrocuted after it came into contact with a snapped high-voltage power line in Woodcock Reserve Forest near Doddabetta in The Nilgiris North Forest Division on Thursday.
S. Kalanidhi, District Forest Officer, Nilgiris north division, said trees had fallen following strong wind and heavy rain snapping a high-voltage power line passing through the reserve forest a few days ago.
Tangedco staff, who went into the forest to carry out repair works, found the carcass of the leopardess and alerted the Forest Department. The staff of the Forest Department said the animal would have died on Tuesday or Wednesday.
‘No action on anyone’
A team of forest staff, along with veterinarian (Mudumalai Tiger Reserve) E. Vijayaraghavan, arrived at the spot and performed an autopsy. “The incident was unfortunate. We are not taking any action as the incident was unforeseeable,” said Mr. Kalanidhi.
Recently, two elephants died after coming into contact with snapped electricity lines which fell onto a metal fence in the Gudalur region, while a sloth bear also reportedly bit an electric cable in Kil Kotagiri and died.