Legal action against wildlife officers if proven responsible for death

 Legal action will be taken against the Nallathanniya wildlife officials responsible for the death of the mountain  leopard, Wildlife Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.

He told the Daily Mirror that a team led by a Wildlife Ministry's additional secretary is conducting investigations over the incident.

If the investigations prove the cause of death of the leopard was due to the cutting of the tree and attempting to bring the wild beast to the ground by the wildlife men, legal action will be taken against them.

According to the video footages circulating on social media show the wildlife officers were, in an attempt to save a leopard that had been trapped in the fork of a tree at Wanaraja estate in Dickoya near Hatton.  

The leopard, which was caught in a noose laid by poachers had broken the noose and climbed onto the tree, only to be trapped in a fork.