Thari Villagers Killed a Cheetah

MITHI:The male leopard which is critically endangered in Pakistan was killed by villagers in village Sringhwari near Islamkot town of Tharparkar on Monday evening. The villagers told the local journalists that the beast was killed by a local resident, who is also a police constable after it attacked and injured residents and their herd of goats, sheep and other animals for the past few days.

The residents of Sringhwari and Bhotaro villagers believed that the beast had entered in their area from Indian state Rajasthan “The beast was killed in self-defense’ added Mir Aijaz Talpur, the deputy director of the wildlife department in Tharparkar. The body of the leopard has been sent to a laboratory in Karachi for a scientific and genetic study. “Its body and tissue tests will be conducted to find whether the leopard was a local species or had migrated from somewhere else,” added Mr Talpur.

According to Chief Wildlife Conservator Sindh, Javed Mahar, for the past 10 to 15 days, the wildlife department had been searching for signs of leopards in Sindh. “We had received news of a sighting from Karoonjhar hills in Nagarparkar but when our research team went there, we didn’t find any evidence of the animal’s presence.”Two days back, footprints of the same leopard were reported in Sringwali, a village 40km from Islamkot town But before another team was dispatched, this incident took place, the conservator said.Mahar revealed that in the history of the region, no leopard has been sighted. “There’s a possibility that the animal fled from a private zoo or farmhouse in the area.”he added.