The black leopard has been caught in a snare that had been set to hunt animals by poachers on a vegetable farm near the Laxapana estate in the Nallathanniya, Sri Lanka.
The plantation workers have heard the noise of a leopard which was screaming and have informed to the officials of the Nallathanniya Wildlife Office.
When the wildlife officials have arrived to the scene in the afternoon, the wounded black leopard was suffering greatly and had seen some injuries.
After hearing about it, veterinarians came to the place to treat the leopard and were still being treated until this evening.
“The animal has been safely rescued. We hope to release the animal to the wild soon by treating it. The species has a genetic mutation. He’s gone black. Compared to other animals, only about 1% of these animals are left at this moment.” Said Ranger – Department of wildlife conservation Prabash Karunathilaka
The leopard (panthera pardus kotiya) in Sri Lanka is unique among one of the eight subspecies of leopards found around the world As per the last Felidae taxonomy revision in 2017.
This creature, popularly known as the black leopard, is very rare in Sri Lanka and color variant of the Sri Lankan Leopard and is controversial.
It is believed until recently there were no black panthers alive in Sri Lanka. But, evidence of a black leopard was reported last January, about 10 kilometers away from the where it was reported.
This animal was recorded on October 26 last year on a remote motion-sensitive cameras which had been mounted by the Department of wildlife conservation.
The Department announced on that day they were aware of, adult female, male and two cubs are living in the same Black Leopard range.
It is yet to be established whether the Black Panther rescued today and the animals spotted on the motion picture cameras are one and the same.
Cover Photo – colombogazette
