Kochi, May 22 (IANS): A leopard, trapped in a wire mesh near a farm in Kerala's Palakkad district on Wednesday, died soon after wildlife officials freed it and put it in a cage, officials said.

The incident occurred at a farm at Vazhapuzha near Kollengode in Palakkad.

The farm owner spotted the trapped leopard in the morning and informed the local forest officials.

By then, a good number of local people had arrived to see the leopard which was struggling to free itself.

By noon, the authorities decided to tranquilise the leopard. A veterinarian fired a dart and after a few minutes, the leopard became immobile. Soon the forest and police officials managed to put it in a cage but soon after that, it died.

A post-mortem examination of the wild cat will be conducted on Thursday, and authorities said that the immediate cause of death was probably due to internal bleeding. Of late, the number of cases of man-animal conflict has increased hugely across the state.