COLOMBO – Yet another leopard entangled in a snare died of its injuries on Sunday (23). According to the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), the leopard had got entangled in a snare set up in a private property in the Doluwa area in Gampola, Central Province.
Officials of the DWC had been rushed to the scene on receiving information that a leopard had been trapped in a snare, but they had arrived too late to the save the animal. It had died of injuries sustained in its struggle to escape from the snare.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in July instructed the DWC to probe incidents of illegal poaching after several leopards, including a rare black leopard, were killed after being trapped in snares in several parts of the country. Local media reported that he had directed DWC Director General M.G.C Sooriyabandara to conduct a prompt investigation and initiate legal action against those responsible.
The rare black leopard died in May, after sustaining serious injuries while entangled in a snare set up in a private property in Nallathanniya, in Hatton. At least three more leopards died in similar manner in June and July, in Neluwa, in the Southern Province and in Pusselawa and Nawalapitiya, in the Central Province.
Wildlife officials have said the survival of the Sri Lankan leopard is threatened due to habitat loss and fragmentation primarily with poaching and human-related leopard deaths.
In June, Sri Lanka opened the world’s first Leopard Information Centre at the country’s most visited Yala National Park.
-ENCL