Sonepur: Mystery shrouds the death of 10 sheep on Saturday at Kardapal village in Sonepur district. The matter came to light when villagers found carcasses of eight sheep on Sunday morning.

All the animals belonged to farmer Santosh Mallik of the village. All the carcasses had marks of animal attack on them. Two sheep are still missing. A veterinary doctor of Birmaharajpur went to the village and conducted post-mortem of the carcasses.

Mallik said he owned 22 sheep and they were safe and sound when he went to sleep on Saturday night. Mallik said he didn't hear any sound in the night and it were the villagers who informed him about the deaths on Sunday morning.

"I didn't hear any sound from the backyard where the animals are kept in a thatched house. Some villagers informed me about sheep lying dead in a nearby field on Sunday morning. All the sheep carcasses had suffered severe injuries apparently caused by the attack of some wild animal. We informed the veterinary surgeon who had come with the livestock inspector," Mallik said.

Veterinary doctor Satyabrata Purohit said the post-mortem made it clear that some will animal had attacked the sheep.

"I have examined the bodies and it is beyond doubt that wild animals had attacked the sheep," Purohit said.

He said that according to existing rules, the government would compensate the sheep owner.

Assistant conservator of forest, Sonepur, Sushil Tripathy said the modus operandi of the animal suggests that predators were wolves.

"Wolves are usually known to carry out such attacks on domestic animals. The forest staff of Birmaharajpur have been asked to take note of the pug marks and nail marks around the area," Tripathy said.