Moved by the plight of a leopard cub whose head was stuck in a plastic container, more than 30 people in Thane district of Maharashtra joined hands to rescue the animal.
The operation which included searching and rescuing the cub took nearly 48 hours to complete. The cub, who is about one year old, as per PTI had put its head inside the container to drink water and was stuck in it.
Video:
⚠️🚨 #ALERT: #Leopard with its head stuck in #plastic container spotted at #Badlapur in #Thane@MahaForest & #rescue teams @raww_ngo are currently trying to locate the distressed mammal@raww_tweets@tweetsvirat @ranjeetnature @akshay_journo pic.twitter.com/vwfC8YnWXD
— RAWW (@raww_ngo) February 14, 2022
As per Forest Department official the animal was found running around in distress in Badlapur area of Goregaon on Sunday. Non-government organisations concerned with animal welfare had put an alert for more information about the creature as the video of the cub – shot by tourists on Sunday — running around with the container went viral.
Seeing the footage, Forest Department and Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) officials along with NGO Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare representatives, started the search operation.
Located near Badlapur village it was tranquilised with a dart by the rescuers. With the dart hitting the cub, it shook and the container came off. Having gone without food and water for two days, the cub was in a dehydrated state. It was moved to the SGNP rescue centre for treatment. Once the condition of the cub improves it will be released in the wild.
Also read: Two leopard cubs reunited with mother in Maharashtra's Nirgude village
