One leopard was found dead at Bhalam VDC-3 while another at Kahu VDC-1.

With this, the number of leopards found dead in the district within a week had reached five. The District Veterinary Office examined the dead leopards. “The two leopards’s tongues were blue and their intestines were bleeding. So they might have died of consuming poison,” vet Ganesh KC said.

Earlier on Tuesday, two leopards were found dead near Manipal Teaching Hospital in Pokhara. Likewise, another female leopard, which was found injured near Bijayapur a week ago, also died while undergoing treatment.

Conservationist Kamaljung Kunwar said the District Forest Office (DFO) and community forest users’ groups should be concerned over protecting leopards. He said the guilty should be brought to justice.

According to the existing laws, a person found to have poached wildlife will be sentenced to two years in jail and fined Rs 10,000. Forest officials in the district admitted that the trend of killing leopard is on the rise. “Reason behind the leopards’ deaths is being investigated,” said Assistant District Forest Officer Madhav Prasad Baral.

Raju Acharya, a student of wildlife conservation, said wild animals stray out of forests and enter human settlements in search of their prey. He said the trend has also challenged conservation of wildlife in the area. He said incidents of wild animals being killed through traps or feeding them carcasses of domestic animals treated with medicines are increasing of late. The DFO said around a dozen wild animals were found dead or injured in the district this year.