5 Arrested in Kerala for Killing Leopard and Consuming its Meat

Five villagers from Kerala's Idukki, who caught, killed a six-year-old leopard and feasted on its meat were arrested by forest officials on Friday after a tip-off. Officials recovered cooked leopard meat, teeth, nails, skin and raw meat of the killed cat during the search.

The incident was reported in the Munipara area which falls under the Mankulam Range of the forest department in Idukki district.

Forest officials said this was the first instance of them witnessing such an incident. While the officers' initial assessment was that the snare was put up to net wild boars and the leopard might have been trapped in the snare accidently. The accused, however, told officials that it was intentional- they set up the trap to catch the leopard. It seems that the leopard strayed into their territory and often killed their pets and cattle.

Mankulam forest range officer V B Udayasooryan said, "The animal had recently killed a goat owned by Vinod P K, one of the accused and he and his friends laid a snare using auto brake cable, net and other materials. The animal was netted on Wednesday before it was killed by its captors and its meat distributed". He added that the animal weighed around 50 kgs. The incident became known after two days when one of the informers notified forest officials.

Officials found almost 10 kg of uncooked meat and other remains of the animal from the houses of the accused. They said the accused were planning to sell the skin, teeth and nail of the leopard. Another senior forest officer said that while incidents of wild animals being killed are not unheard of, it was the first time they came across the consumption of the meat of the same. "A special investigation team will be constituted soon," said the senior forest officer.

The forest official informed that the accused will get a maximum punishment of seven-years imprisonment and a heavy penalty according to the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972). They have been charged under sections 9, 39, 44, 49, 50, 51 and 57 of the Wildlife Protection Act.

Leopards are listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and are included in Appendix I of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and are listed as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

Kerala has about 650 leopards in its tiger reserves.

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