Two leopard cubs rescued and reunited with mother in Maharashtra

Pic courtesy/ Chaitraly Deshmukh

In a very recent incident, the Wildlife SOS & the Forest Department rescued two leopard cubs that were later happily reunited with their respective mothers. Earlier this week, sugarcane farmers from Kale village located in Karad taluka of Satara district stumbled upon a leopard cub while harvesting their crops. A growing population, expanding farmland and depleting forests have led to a manifold increase in man-leopard conflict in the area, hence the farmers, who were not startled to find the cubs on their farm, were also wary of a protective mother lurking in the vicinity. They immediately alerted the Forest Department, who sought to reunite the young leopard with its mother.

The Range Forest Officer Mr. Ajit Sajane then reached out to the Wildlife SOS team operating out of the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Center in Junnar for their assistance, as the team has had years of experience in successfully reuniting leopard cubs with their mothers in Maharashtra. A team from the NGO, led by Senior veterinarian Dr. Ajay Deshmukh geared up for the mission and drove about 300 kms to reach the location. The cub was identified as a female, estimated to be about 40 days old.

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Determined to reunite the missing cub with its mother, both teams set out to track down the mother leopard. After a period of five days, a leopardess was finally spotted outside the village at around 2:00 am on Monday morning. They immediately placed the cub in a safe box and kept it close to the sugarcane field, where it was found. Camera trap footage installed by the Wildlife SOS team captured the mother leopard slowly approaching the cub. After gently knocking off the covers from the safe box, she picked up her baby by the scruff of the neck and retreated to the tall, dense sugarcane field.

Around the same time, a nearly 30-day-old male cub was reportedly found in a sugarcane field in Narayangaon, Junnar. A team of Forest officers accompanied by the Wildlife SOS team rushed to the location and pulled off yet another successful reunion.

Dr. Ajay Deshmukh, Senior Veterinarian at the Wildlife SOS Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre said, "We like to ensure that leopard cubs that are separated from their mothers don't end up in captivity if we can help it. We want them living freely in their natural habitat and to learn the skills of survival in the wild. Wildlife SOS makes every effort to make such rescue and reunion operations possible."

Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder & CEO of Wildlife SOS said, "So far this year, our team has carried out five successful reunions. The harvest season witnesses highest instances of conflict because the farmers move into the fields to cut down the long sugarcane stalks. Wildlife SOS works closely with the Forest Dept. to conduct rescue missions and create awareness amongst the local communities to encourage tolerance towards these majestic cats as well as to mitigate conflict

Ajit Sajane, Range Forest Officer (RFO) Satara said "We often receive calls about lost leopard cub sightings during the pre-harvest and harvest season. We are grateful to the Wildlife SOS team for helping us make these two reunions a success."

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