QUETTA: In another instance of animal abuse in the nation where wildlife is still endangered, a rare breed leopard was shot dead by people in the Sui area of Dera Bugti, Balochistan.
Videos of the incident surfaced on Monday, showing residents wielding rifles while removing an adult leopard’s lifeless body from a cave and hauling it outside.
The footage showed five of the armed men posing for pictures with the dead cat, who had been shot at least three times, as was evident in the Dera Bugti administration. They said that an investigation was in progress and that a first information report (FIR) had been filed against the people responsible for the killing of the wild animal.
Last week, there was also a case involving the remains of leopard kittens that had reportedly been shot dead in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) the day before Eid ul Adha.
The issue gained attention when a social media user shared images of dead kittens, prompting AJK wildlife authorities to look for them.
The common leopard is classified as a protected species by the Pakistan Wildlife Department, and hunting it is prohibited by all provincial laws in the nation.
