A leopard was run over by a goods train on the outskirts of Surat city in Gujarat today (December 10), an official said. The forest department was alerted about the incident around 6:00 am, and the carcass has been recovered and sent for post-mortem, in-charge divisional forest officer (DFO) Anand Kumar said.
Leopard sightings are rare in the Amroli area of Surat city, where the incident occurred, but the big cats find their way into the locality from the forests of south Gujarat, he said. "We have decided to set up trap cameras to find out about their presence in the area," the officer said.
Gujarat has seen a rise in its leopard population, with the latest census putting their numbers at 2,274 in 2023, a 63 per cent rise from 1,395 in 2016.
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