CHENNAI: A five-year-old leopardess died after getting entangled in a fence near a tea estate here, a senior forest official said on Friday.

The female leopard, which got tangled in the fence in Thittukkal, here, appeared to have struggled to free herself but in vain on Thursday night, the official said. Upon being informed, forest staff rushed to the spot, tranquilised the animal and later released her in the forest after she was freed. However, the animal could not stand and collapsed and died all of a sudden. In a separate case, the forest officials arrested two men allegedly for poaching barking deer and a leopard in Kotagiri in Nilgiri district.