COIMBATORE: A leopard died after getting caught in a snare put up in farmland at Kattabettu forest range in Kotagiri on Monday.

Villagers spotted the carcass of the animal in a private farm owned by K Thangaraj (62), along Naragiri to Pattamukku Road and informed the Kattabettu forest department.

A team led by Forest Range Officer (FRO) Srinivasan rushed to the spot and examined the carcass of the female leopard, aged around four years.

After a post-mortem, the carcass of the animal was burned as per protocol.

A case has been registered, and further inquiries are on to nab the culprits, who set up the snare.

In November last year, a male tiger aged around three years was trapped in a snare kept for poaching wild boar and deer near the reserve forest area and suffocated to death in Gudalur in the Nilgiris.