Three leopards were found dead at three different places coming under Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Gundlupet taluk, Chamarajanagar district, on Thursday.
While one leopard was poisoned to death, the other two had died due to fights with other animals, forest department personnel said.
The carcass of female leopard that was poisoned to death was found at a farm land near Kathanuru.The land belongs to one G R Govindaraju.
Forest officials said the leopard had killed the pet dog of Ramesh, the watchman of the land. Angered he had sprinkled pesticides on the carcass of the dog. The leopardess, which returned to the kill, died after consuming the dead dog. Ramesh confessed to the crime during interrogation and was arrested. Veterinarian Dr Mirza Wasim conducted the post mortem and the big cat’s carcass was cremated.
The other 2 leopards were found dead by the patrolling team of forest department at Kanianapura of Kundukere range and at Mangala of G S Betta range.