Villagers beat to death rare wild leopard in Bangladesh

DHAKA – Villagers armed with bamboo sticks beat and killed a rare wild leopard in eastern Bangladesh, a news agency said Monday.

Villagers in eastern Feni district caught the leopard Sunday from a bamboo grove. Fearing that it might attack them or their livestock, they beat it to death, the United News of Bangladesh news agency said.

Police and forestry officials recovered the carcass and took it to an animal hospital for an autopsy, and a huge crowd thronged the hospital to get a glimpse of the rare animal, the news agency said.

Leopards are rarely seen in forested areas along Bangladesh’s eastern border with India.

The leopard was about one and a half years old and measured nearly one metre (three feet), the agency said. Feni is 130 kilometres (80 miles) east of Dhaka, the national capital.

Police registered a case under the Wild Animal Protection Act, but did not charge or arrest anyone.

Bangladesh is also home to wild elephants and tigers, which often venture into villages in search of food from their dwindling jungle habitats.