Leopard dies at Indian zoo after being beaten by villagers

[ 19 Mar, 2007 0213hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

LUCKNOW: A panther which brought to the Lucknow Zoological Gardens after being brutally beaten up villagers of Tulsipur Manjha in Gonda, died on Sunday.

Villagers led by local MLA had trapped the animal and had later thrashed it leaving it with fractured ribs and jaw and head injuries.

Later, they informed the district forest officer, who send the big cat to the Lucknow zoo.

“The animal was not well, it was refusing everything we gave it to eat. It was dull and did not have water through out. It died early Sunday morning,” said zoo director Eva Sharma.

She added, “We have sent the post-mortem report to Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Bareilly.”

She refused to comment on the query as to whether the animal had died due to external injuries as none of the zoo employees was an eye-witness to the beating up of the animal.

“What my doctors told me is that stress and shock led to the death of the animal. Haemorrhage and blood clots were also found in the body,” she said.

The zoo vet was not available, despite repeated attempts, to shred light on the reason behind big cat’s death.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Lucknow/ Panther_brought_from_Sitapur_dies_ in_zoo/articleshow/1776372.cms