Guwahati: In yet another incident of animal cruelty, a full-grown leopard was allegedly beaten to death in the capital city of Guwahati on Sunday morning. The incident happened at a time when the entire country seemed to be mourning the death of a pregnant elephant in Kerela.

Forest department sources said that some locals in Guwahati’s Katahbari area have allegedly beaten the leopard to death after they trapped it.

A source said that the leopard used to live in a nearby forest in the area and was often seen in the nearby localities triggering fear amongst the locals. Although there were no reports of the leopard attacking any livestock or humans officially in the area, locals were complaining before the forest department to take the necessary action.

“Finding no help from the authority, the locals had set up a trap to catch the leopard and then beaten the big cat to death,” sources said. As per the villagers, the leopard has been creating terror in the area for the past several days.

The leopard was a full-grown one and as per sources, it died of multiple head injuries.

Following an investigation, the city’s Gorchuk Police arrested six persons including a juvenile for the killing of the leopard.

In a similar incident in April, state police had arrested four persons for killing a leopard and allegedly eating its meat, in Assam’s Golaghat district. Three other leopards, a wild cat and an elephant have died during the ongoing lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Over the years, there have been several reports of such killings of wild animals in the state.

Although the forest department from time to time has been claiming that they have been doing all possible things to prevent such killings in the state, very little success has been seen in reality. Forest department officials said they have been conducting awareness campaigns amongst the locals.