A five-year-old female leopard died after getting trapped in a snare laid to hunt wild game near Selas in Coonoor. The carcass of the animal was discovered on Saturday morning.
Forest department officials said that the animal was found dead in a private tea estate by locals, who informed officials. Following a preliminary investigation which found the cause of death of the animal to be due to getting ensnared, District Forest Officer D. Guruswamy instructed Forest Range Officer, Coonoor, Sasikumar to conduct an investigation and apprehend the people responsible for laying the snare.
Following a tip-off, forest department officials narrowed down the suspects to two persons, identified as Murugan, 38, and Selvan, 40, from Kil Kakkuchi. The two had allegedly been laying snares over the last few months and hunting wild game. The forest department arrested the two men on Saturday, with investigations ongoing.
The carcass of the leopard, following the completion of a postmortem was destroyed.