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Commenting on the leopard killing, the Additional Director of Wildlife for the Yala-Bundala Division, D.V.R. Jayaratne said the incident was supposed to have occurred on the night of July 5. “I was in my office in Kataragama and heard about it the next morning. When I went to the scene, I saw that the leopard’s body was skinned, but not buried and was lying on the Palata Road, which is in the park,” he said adding that on July 8, a post-mortem was done and investigations were on.

Conceding that they had no suspects, he said they believed the animal would have been killed by the villagers living on the boundary of the Yala Park.

Yala Park Warden W.S. Weragama, when asked about the incident went into great detail about the behaviour of the cat family before answering The Sunday Times queries. “The weak or the old members of a pack may sometimes move away from the group and roam into villages to catch easy prey such as cattle or even a dog, because of this the villagers lay traps for leopards to protect their animals,” he said. “In this leopard’s case too, it may have been an old, sick or weak animal which may have slipped out of the park boundary, looking for food.”

The incident had happened close to a paddy field, away from the boundary, he said, adding that he did not see this as an isolated issue. There are 57 leopards in Yala, according to him.

“We still haven’t got any details on the killing. Once we get evidence against the perpetrators, we will take necessary action,” he added.

Wildlife Ranger Buddika Vidanage said, "On the spot where the leopard was found, there were no traces of blood, which means that the animal had been killed elsewhere but dumped in that area. There were also no paw-prints. We have already questioned 12 cattle farmers in the area.”

Veterinarian Dr. P. Dewasurendra who conducted the autopsy said because the carcass was heavily decayed, it was difficult to ascertain the cause of death. “So we are keeping the carcass until we can examine the bones to determine how the leopard was killed. That will take another 10 days. But I can say, from initial examinations that the skin and the head of the animal had been removed by a skilled hunter.”

Confirming that weak or old leopards may move out of the pack and could be in danger of being trapped or poisoned, Dr. Dewasurendra said he could not yet verify whether this leopard was shot or killed in a trap, without examining its bones. “It was not any poison that killed it, as there was no smell of poison during the autopsy," he added.

When asked whether an ‘A’ form was filled, he said he was not aware of this procedure but was in the process of preparing his final report, which he would submit after the bone examination. When was an autopsy conducted? Was it immediately after the discovery of the carcass or much later? These are questions that the wildlife authorities need to find out.