Tura, Feb 7: The fight for survival of wild animals in an era of human expansion where their habitat is fast depleting and giving way to concrete human dwelling has continued at the expense of rare and endangered species.

An adult male leopard cat that accidently strayed into a building construction site in Tura market area bled to death after its stomach got pierced by the standing iron rods on Sunday morning.

The incident took place at Thakurbari area of the market where an RCC structure was coming up.

The leopard cat, an adult male weighing approximately 2.4 kilograms probably fell onto the rods while attempting to jump across.

The rods went through its abdomen damaging its internal organs causing extensive bleeding.

The severely injured animal was spotted in the morning and wildlife teams were informed.

“As soon as we got the information we rushed with our teams. Sadly, it could not be saved as its liver and intestines had already ruptured. It died during the attempt to remove it,” said Wildlife DFO Arpiush Ch Sangma.

According to the forest official, the leopard cat which happens to belong to the smaller cat species prefer staying not far from human habitation as they feel safer from larger predators to breed and procure food.

Ever since the Covid pandemic occured, a year ago to this day, there has been several sightings of wild animals, particularly leopard cats coming down from the neighbouring Tura peak mountain towards homes on the fringes of the reserved forest area.

The rise in breeding of this rare endangered species has been attributed to a near total drop in hunting thanks to the lockdown that was in place for the pandemic.