PONDA: A three-year-old female leopard died after it was hit by a train near Collem at Pokarmol-Kalem in Dharbandora taluka late Thursday evening.
The Mollem forest division has retrieved the carcass for investigation.
Mollem deputy conservator of forests A Jabestian said the wild animal could have met with the accident while crossing the track. The leopard was found lying dead in the middle of the tracks.
A local source has said that the big cat could have suddenly found the train coming near, but probably didn’t manage to escape as it could have been momentarily blinded due to the train light.
He also suspected that a goods train could have hit the animal as there are no passenger trains are running along that route.
