India: Two persons were arrested for allegedly poaching a leopard in the forests of Dodarna (I) in Kubheer mandal on May 26. They were produced before the media by forest officials in Bhainsa on Monday.

Nirmal Forest Divisional Officer J Gopal Rao said the accused — Devbhale Dada Rao and Devbhale Parameshwar — were natives of Thadachiwada in Nanded district of Maharashtra. They were detained in the neighbouring State, following a tip-off.

During interrogation, the duo confessed to the poaching of the leopard by laying an iron trap in a tank for its skin. They revealed that they throttled and stabbed it when it got trapped. They, however, could not skin it since there was a movement of public and fled the spot leaving the carcass of the three-year-old male leopard.

Gopal Rao cautioned that those indulging in the killing of wild animals would be imprisoned for three to seven years under the Wildlife Protection Act (1972). He said compensation would be extended for the damage caused by wild animals.

(Source: The Telangana Today )