Forest department reunites two leopard cubs with mother in Satara

Pic/Satara Forest Department/RESQ CT

In yet another successful attempt, the Satara Forest Department with the help of the Pune-based NGO RESQ CT, reunited two leopard cubs with their mother. The cubs were found in a sugarcane field.

Range Forest Officer (RFO) Nivrutti Chavan told mid-day that on February 8 at around 1 pm, the sugarcane harvest was in progress at Padli village in Satara district when the workers found two cubs in the sugarcane field. The owner of the farm, Gorakhnath Dhane, and Amar Dhane immediately informed the department following which a team of the forest department along with the members of NGO RESQ CT immediately reached the spot.

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The Conservator of Forests in Satara, Uttam Sawant, instructed the officials to start the process to reunite the cubs with their mother.

Under the guidance of Mahesh Zanjurne, Assistant Conservator of Forests Satara, RFO Nivrutti Chavan prepared a strategy with his staff members, Arun Solanki, Forester Parli, Ashok Malap, Harshad Nagre, Shubham Singh (RESQ CT), Lokesh Rite, Omkar Dhale, Shekhar Chavan, Sujit Phanse, Santosh Dalvi, and Padali.

Both the cubs were placed in a plastic crate, and camera traps were installed in the area to monitor the leopard's activity. The teams determined the best location to attempt the reunion, prepared the site, and set up the cub inside it, along with live cameras to monitor the site remotely.

"After the sunset at around 7.43 pm, the mother of the cubs approached and took the cubs with her," he said. The successful reunion was done with the help of RESQ CT, Chavan said.