31 May, 2020
The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) has called for court’s permission to carry out a postmortem on the black panther that died on Friday, May29.
Director of the DWC, M. G. C. Sooriyabandara said they will be able to understand the cause of death following the postmortem, and it was too early to come to a conclusion before that. The rare animal died at the Udawalawa Wildlife Hospital. It was rescued from a snare in Nallathanniya in the Sri Pada forest reserve by Wildlife officers on Tuesday, May 26.
A genetic condition causes the skin of Panthera Pardus Kotiya (the Sri Lankan leopard) to turn black from where it gets its famous name - the black panther.