"In the Taragarh village, a leopard consumed alcohol from the distillery and forgot its true fierce nature," reads the Hindi-language caption of a Facebook post shared here on September 4, 2023.
The caption goes on to read: "And what would have happened if it had remembered? Then the blame would have passed on to the authorities, on the employees!"
The 52-second video viewed over 1,000 times shows a leopard walking slowly in an open field with a group of people walking around and prodding it.
Conflicts between humans and animals are common in the Madhya Pradesh (MP) state. Local media report an average of 66 human deaths and 11,182 injuries were recorded each year between 2019 and 2022 in the state (archived link).
The video was shared alongside similar claims on Facebook here, here and on X, formerly known as Twitter, here.
However, the leopard was not intoxicated.
Narmada Prasad Sharma, a local deputy forest range officer, said the leopard was ill and primary symptoms observed during treatment were neurological.
"He is suffering from a mental illness due to which animals forget their original nature," he told AFP.
Uttam Yadav, the director of...
Mumbai: Senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Sunday demanded that cases should be registered against former Amravati Lok Sabha member Navneet Rana and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Anil Bonde for alleg...