The farmers of Shiroli village located in Maharashtra’s Pune district were thrilled to no end. The reason being their efforts paid dividends as three 60-day-old leopard cubs found in a sugarcane field were successfully reunited with their mother.

Busy harvesting the sugarcane crop, the villagers to their surprise found these three stranded cubs. As they are used to leopards and their cubs in their area, they were careful as they were aware that the protective mother must be in the vicinity and without wasting time, informed the Maharashtra Forest Department. The officials along with Wildlife SOS rescue team operating out of the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre in Junnar arrived at the spot.

The Wildlife SOS veterinary doctor during the initial examination found the cubs, two females and one male, were approximately 60 days old.

The team waited till nightfall when the leopards were most active and placed the cubs in a safe box. In the early hours of Friday morning, the camera traps installed to monitor the cubs captured the mother leopard approaching the safe box and reuniting with her cubs.

Talking about this operation, Dr. Chandan Sawne, Wildlife SOS, Veterinary Officer said: “We conducted a clinical examination to rule out any abnormality or disease. Following protocol, we also carefully implant each cub with a microchip before the release. This is an excellent measure of identifying leopards in the wild and allows us to study the range and territory of the majestic big cats.”

The NGO’s CEO Kartick Satyanarayan, praised the community for their conservation efforts and mitigating human-wildlife conflict. “The awareness of the local community plays a huge role here in avoiding any kind of mishap and ensuring that these cubs are safely reunited with their mothers.”