A wild cat was electrocuted after it ascended an electric pole in the Nizamabad district of Telangana.
The incident came to light after some villagers from Mallaram Gandi village saw the dead leopard on the pole and informed forest officials about it.
The incident may have taken place in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, district forest officer VSV. Prasad told the Hindu.
Prasad, who visited the spot, said that the leopards know how to climb trees and poles, and that the animal must have come in contact with the live wire after it touched the pole.
Forest officials brought down the carcass, following which a post mortem was conducted by a veterinary surgeon. The body was burnt later.
Prasad, who recorded the whole process on video, said that poachers usually sought to kill tigers for their nails but no one prefers the nails of a leopard.
Another incident where a leopard was brutally killed can be recalled from July last year, where the wild cat and her cub's carcass was found near Khammam district. It was suspected that the leopards might have been poisoned.The paws of one of the leopards had been chopped.
