Good news for wildlife lovers in Odisha! Black leopards are still present in the state. The fact came to the fore during the recent tiger census in Odisha forests.
This was confirmed by the PCCF (Wildlife) Susanta Nanda on Tuesday. Taking to his X handle, he posted a picture of a black leopard and wrote, "This ghost of the forest was first captured in 2018 in Sundergarh. Heartening to inform that it was again recaptured in camera trap recently, putting to rest all the speculations that was raised by few in the public domain." (SIC)
As per reports, for the first time, a black leopard was spotted through camera capture in Sundargarh in 2018. It is believed to be the same black tiger which has been spotted again.
Speaking to OTV over the phone, the PCCF said, "A black tiger was captured in a camera in Sundargarh for the first time in 2018. Again, it was spotted at the same place in the same reserve forest. Local people and our staff used to see it occasionally.”
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“The camera evidence proves that the black leopard is still surviving. Black leopards are still there in various parts of Odisha. During the tiger counting, we got evidence of black leopards at three places. Besides, we have other evidence about the presence of black leopards in other places,” he asserted.