Poachers Kill Leopard, Eat Its Meat in Nuapada Dist; 2 Arrested

Nuapada: Forest officials arrested two persons in the Nuapada district of Odisha on charges of killing a leopard and eating its meat.

The arrested poachers identified as Padu Majhi and Buturam Majhi were sent to judicial custody as a local court denied bail to them on Friday.

According forest officials, the arrested duo accidentally caught a leopard in a trap set for wild boars in October 2023 at Donger village under Sinapalli forest range in the Nuapada district. They killed the leopard with a country-made gun of Buturam.

Later, they skinned the leopard and ate eats meat after cooking it inside the forest.

On July 9, 2024, a team of forest officials of Sinapali forest range raided the Tandulkona village and seized a leopard hide. Three persons were arrested on charges of wildlife smuggling.

During interrogation, the arrested trio revealed information about Padu and Buturam claiming that these two had provided the leopard skin to them.

On Thursday, forest officials arrested Padu and Buturam from the Donger village.

In a similar incident, three poachers were arrested in Sambalpur district on August 26 for killing and eating leopard meat.