COIMBATORE: A day after rescue, the black leopard cub left to reunite with its family was found dead in the forest area near Marudhamalai foothills in Coimbatore on Thursday.

The cub was abandoned by its mother at an unoccupied house in Leprosy Colony on Wednesday. The neighbours, who had heard continuous growls, went to check and noticed the cub inside the house.

The cub, approximately six months old, was then transferred to a cage, and the forest department initiated efforts to reunite the cub with its mother in the forest area. When the cub was released in a forest area nearby, officials heard the loud growling of the mother leopard, indicating that it was loitering around in the same locality.

A team deployed for monitoring had also confirmed the movement of two leopards nearby in the early morning hours on Thursday. Soon, the cub also went missing.

Subsequently, the forest personnel split into two teams and launched a search operation. The cub was later found dead about 300 metres away from the spot where it was left. Officials said the exact cause of death will be known only after a post-mortem.