NIZAMABAD/MANCHERIAL: Carcasses of two leopards were found in Nizamabad and Mancherial districts, baring the poor wildlife protection measures in place in Telangana. Only in the first week of this month, a tiger skin was recovered from poachers by forest department in Adilabad, while a leopard carcass was found in Jagtial. In Nizamabad as well as Mancherial, the leopard carcasses were found inside forest fringes close to human habitations, indicating the rise in man-animal conflict as humans eat into forests in the State. 

In Nizamabad, the leopard carcass was found 550 meters away from human habitation while in Mancherial the other carcass was found just about 40-50meters away. According to forest officials in Nizamabad, they found the leopard carcass on Sunday afternoon inside the Gutpa forest area in Armoor range near Mamidipally village in Maklur mandal in Nizamabad. 

The leopard’s nails and a few teeth were missing, indicating poaching could be the cause. Officials zeroed in on the culprits with the help of a trained dog. According to Armoor FRO P Ramulu, the dog was brought to Nizamabad on Monday,  which led the forest officials to a mango farm located around 550 metres away from the spot where leopard carcass was found. At the mango farm, four people were apprehended - three farm workers K Vijay, K Ravi, Tulasi Ram and N Narender working as a lineman and recovered seven nails and four teeth from them. 

In the second incident, a 3-4 day old leopard carcass was found stuck among tree trunks at Rangampet forest area in Luxettipet range in Mancherial on Monday. This leopard is also suspected to have been killed by poachers, Mancherial FDO J Venkat Rao said. The leopard had a metal snare around its neck.  He said that for this case as well, services of the trained dog named Cheetah from Jannaram forest division which helped in identifying poachers in Nizamabad will be used.