MUZAFFARABAD: A first information report (FIR) was registered by a police post in Patikka on Wednesday on the complaint of a wildlife department official against unknown suspects for shooting a common leopard dead.

Jazba Shafi, a range officer in the AJK wildlife and fisheries department, told Dawn that they came to know from multiple sources on Wednesday morning that the body of a leopard, zoologically known as Panthera Pardus, was lying along a link road to Batangi village.

The link road stems from the main Neelum valley road before the town of Patikka, some 18km northeast of here.

“Our staff went to the area and conducted preliminary investigations with the local population about the killer(s) of the big cat, but to no avail,” she said.

Ms Shafi said the postmortem examination conducted by a veterinary officer in Patikka revealed that the one-year-old female leopard had been killed with three deep gunshots.

Since the blood was still oozing from the deep wounds, it meant the big cat had been shot sometime between Tuesday and Wednesday night, she added.

Ms Shafi said the FIR was registered at police post Patikka on her complaint under sections 10(ii) and (iv) of the AJK Wildlife Protection Act, 2014. “Now our staff and police will jointly investigate to unearth the person(s) involved in the killing of the leopard,” she said.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2024