Leopard cat found dead in Cachar; Locals suspect a truck ran over it

Residents of the Katigorah area were shocked to see a unique creature lying dead on the PWD road at Haritikor. While some suspected it to be a baby leopard, some thought it is a civet cat.

Parthankar Choudhury, professor, department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Assam University Silchar as well as DFO Cachar, Tejas Mariswamy identified it as a Leopard Cat known by the scientific name, Prionailurus bengalensis. “Unfortunately, the creature has been found dead,” said the DFO Cachar.

It is worth mentioning here that the area comes under Karimganj Forest Division and the ranger informed that a team has been sent on the ground to recover the carcass and send it for postmortem. “We have seen the video and we are investigating the matter,” added ranger Pinku Singh.

Professor Parthankar Choudhury informed that since 2002, the small cat has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by habitat loss and hunting in parts of its range.

Professor Choudhury feels that the cat has walked on the road from the Borail range as its presence in that region is well documented. He also informed that the cameras installed in Assam University captured the presence of a leopard cat in the campus. “The death of a leopard cat is unfortunate and it is not good that they are now getting ran over by vehicular traffic,” opined Professor Choudhury.