Three carcasses of a fully grown leopard along with its two cubs were found in an apple orchard in Rampur Sub Division in mysterious circumstances.
District Forest Officer Hardev Negi said the carcasses were found on Friday.

The three carcasses included the carcass of a two-and-a-half-year-old female leopard and her two cubs of 8 months each.

Negi said postmortem of all three leopards was done by the veterinary officers of the Department on Friday at Rampur and no physical marks or wounds of any kind were found on the bodies of the three dead leopards.

Seven nails of one of the leopards are missing.

The services of FSL Bareilly were being sought to find the cause of death.

According to DFO, they received information from the villagers that one of these dead cubs was writhing in pain for a long time. By the time the department's team reached the spot, the cub had died.

On the complaint of the forest department, the police have lodged an FIR and started an investigation.

Only after the report comes from here, the cause of the leopard's death will be known.

(With UNI inputs)