A group of locals beat a leopard to death at Aangamoozhi in Goodrical forest range near Ranni on Tuesday morning.
According to locals, they suspected a leopard attack after finding a dog dead near the rubber estate around 6.30 am. Within an hour or so, they found the animal around the spot but as they tried to catch it the animal escaped.
Informed by the local residents, forest department officials reached around 9 a.m. but the big cat gave them the slip and slipped into a bush.
The officials, along with locals, tried to catch the animal with a net but it slipped off and attacked two men who were part of the group there. As one of them caught the leopard and tried to tie it with ropes, the whole group rushed in and beat the animal.
The leopard succumbed to injuries around 2.45 pm, officials said.
“We tried to make the animal get back to the forest but a mob surrounded the area,” Mr Kamalhar R., the DFO of Ranni, told this newspaper. “I had arranged for veterinary doctors to fire tranquilisers to the animal (and rescue it) but even before they could arrive the leopard emerged from the bushes and attacked people waiting there.”
The locals then beat the animal, which led to its death, Mr Kamalhar said.
There was a small forest fire two days ago, and coupled with the water scarcity and increasing heat the leopard had emerged out of the woods, locals suspect.
This, incidentally, was the first time a leopard was spotted at inhabited areas of Aangamoozhi. DFO Mr Kamalhar said the female leopard was four years old and weighed 65 kg.