Farmers of Nirgude village in Maharashtra’s Junnar division felt good as their New Year began with a happy note of reuniting two leopard cubs with their mother.
Working in their sugarcane farms the pair of 45-day-old cubs were discovered by the farmers while harvesting. It is not uncommon for them to come across the animal and the cubs as the tall, dense sugarcane stalks provide adequate cover for them. There is the risk of the cubs being discovered by people working in the fields.
The villagers reported about the discovery to the Forest Department immediately who rushed to the site. Later the cubs were brought to the Wildlife SOS Leopard Rescue Centre for medical examination.
A medical examination of the pair was done by the Wildlife SOS Veterinary Officer, Dr.Nikhil Bangar and they were found to be fit and ready to be returned to their mother. One was a male and the other a female.
The Forest Department and Wildlife SOS facilitated the reunion of the cubs with their mother by placing them in a safe box, close to where they were discovered. A remote-controlled camera trap to document the reunion process was also placed.
Sharing details about the reunion, Dr. Bangar said: “The mother must have been searching for her cubs, as within a few minutes she was able to sniff them out. On reaching the box, she patiently waited to ensure no danger stood in the way, and then she cleverly used her paws to tip it over. She then moved her cubs to a safer location.”
Praising the people for reporting about such sightings, Range Forest Officer Ajit Shinde, Range Forest Officer, remarked: “We are glad to see that people are becoming more sensitised towards the wildlife that share the surrounding habitats. Today, more and more people are reaching out to us for help when they encounter leopards and other wild animals in the area.”
Wildlife SOS CEO, Kartick Satyanarayan observed: “Over the years, Wildlife SOS has partnered with the State Forest Department to conduct many workshops and awareness modules which have shown significant results, indicated by the increasing number of phone calls we get for rescuing distressed wildlife.”
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