Bengaluru: Two leopard cubs, one of them black (melanistic color variant) and considered twins, were found dead on Tuesday after they fed on a dog that was poisoned in Hanchipura village of Nanjangud taluk close to Bandipur National Park.

The two cubs are about one year old and born to the same mother, said Mr T. Heeralal, Director, Bandipur National Park. Forest officials got an alert on Tuesday morning that the leopard cubs were lying on the ground in Hanchipura village and visited the spot.

They found that the leopards had fed on the dog meat that was poisoned by some miscreants, and they traced the remains of the dog also on the field. “The incident was reported early on Tuesday morning and we are yet to trace the culprits. We have sent the dog meat samples for forensic tests to know if the dog was poisoned. It looks evident, but we have to wait for the report for confirmation," Mr Heeralal said.

PCCF (Wildlife) B.J. Hosmath said, “It is a poisoning case and only after the postmortem report we can confirm the reason behind the death of the two leopard cubs.”

In September 2014, a four-year-old female leopard died of poisoning in S. Kallahalli in Mysore district. The Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals on Ballari Road in Bengaluru had identified the poison as zinc phosphate.