Villagers Rescue a Leopard Cub Chased by Feral Dogs

Villages from Papalwadi village located in Khed Taluka of Pune, Maharashtra helped in saving the life of a two-month-old leopard cub from feral stray dogs. Few boys from the village rescued the cub when they noticed that it was being chased by dogs.

After rescuing the cub, the villagers immediately informed forest officials about this incident. The forest department officials rushed to the spot and took the rescued cub to the Wildlife SOS Leopard Rescue Centre in Junnar, Pune for a medical examination.

After the examination, a team of the forest department and the wildlife SOS returned to the village the same day in order to reunite the cub with its mother. The forest department installed remote-controllable cameras to document the cub and his mother’s happy reunion.

According to the forest officials, the footage of their reunion showed that once the cub noticed his mother coming from the field, he became extremely happy and was very vocal. The mother was seen rushing towards her cub and was seen sniffing all around the cub curiously.

While speaking to Times Now, Wildlife Veterinary Officer, Dr. Nikhil Bangar stated that the cub was a male and he is around two months old. Luckily, the cub did not have any injuries from the incident and was able to recover from the stress that he went through while being chased.

Over the last few years, the wild cats in Maharashtra have adapted to the changes in the habitat and have moved out of the shrinking forest into dense sugarcane fields. While the female leopards go hunting, they often leave their little ones in the safe cover of the sugarcane fields. However, these cubs face risk especially during the season of harvest when farmers walk around the field to cut the crops.