COLOMBO, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Two people have been arrested for killing of a rare leopard in northern Sri Lanka last week, while the police were hunting for several other suspects, the police said Sunday.
A Police spokesperson told Xinhua the two arrested were residents of Killinochchi.
The Killinochchi Magistrate's Court on Friday ordered the police to conduct a probe and arrest all those involved in killing the leopard last Wednesday.
Following this order, the police had taken into custody visuals of the killing, which was widely circulated on social media, to identify the perpetrators.
Local media reported last week that a group of villagers had brutally killed the leopard, who had injured at least 10 villagers including a wildlife official as it hunted cattle and goats.
The villagers had then posed for photos with the dead animal, sparking anger on social media.
The Sri Lanka Wildlife Department has condemned the incident.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature listed the Sri Lankan leopard as an endangered animal in 2008.
Animal rights activists said the population of leopards in Sri Lanka, which is not larger tha 250, is declining due to a number of reasons, including poaching and the human-leopard conflict.
