Phulbani, Nov 30: Two persons were arrested for allegedly killing a leopard in a forest in Odisha’s Kandhamal district around two weeks ago.
“The arrested have been identified as Bhabani Shankar Pradhan (23) and Pramod Pradhan (55) who hunted the leopard in the Kalinga forest in the G Udaygiri range,” DFO Prafulla Patel said.
The leopard skin, a country-made gun and a dragger were seized from their possession during raid, said the DFO.
Both the poachers were involved in wildlife hunting in the Kalinga forest for a long time. Acting on a tip-off, a raid was conducted at Bhabani’s house and the leopard hide was seized. Similarly, the gun was seized from Pramod’s house.
“The arrested duo used to hunt wild animals in the Kalinga forest for a long time. Acting on a tip-off, a special team of forest department conducted the raid last night and took both of them into custody,” said a forest official.
