Silchar, Dec. 29: A leopard cub was hit by a speeding truck on National Highway 154, about 7km from Hailakandi town, yesterday afternoon when it was trying to cross the road with its mother and another cub.

Hailakandi divisional forest officer (DFO) Salman Uddin Choudhury today said an employee of his department had rushed to the spot and arranged for post-mortem.

The conservator of forests in south Assam, Abdul Shahid Laskar, today said leopards are vulnerable to accidents as they tend to stray into human habitat in search of prey.

A leopard census conducted by the wildlife branch of the state forest department last year found 87 big cats in the forests of the Barak valley.