Indian Forest officials said that the farmers decided to burn the snake in the trash. Farmers usually burn trash before the harvesting of sugarcane.
Five leopards cubs were burned at the age of 10 days in a sugarcane farm in Ambegaon taluka of Pune district in India on Wednesday morning. According to forest officials, the cubs were killed when a farmer suspecting there was a snake in the trash and decided to burn it.
The Forest officials believe that the mother was not there when a farmer burnt the trash, the mother left the cubs may be in the field when she went to search for food.
Range Forest Officer of Ambegaon Prajot Palve, said that “people have been deployed for night patrolling as the mother leopard may turn violent in her search of them.”
Officials say the farmer is afraid of going back to work in the farm and fearing an attack from the mother leopard.
Leopards are often seen in the sugarcane farms meant to Decrease in forest cover. Forest officials say mother leopards do deliver her cubs in sugarcane fields to grow up and farmers started harvesting of sugarcane before they grow up, then there is a possibility of their death due to such farm fires.