Injured leopard cub rescued near Pawna

The wounded cub. Pic/RESQCT/forest department

The forest department and Pune-based NGO RESQ CT saved the life of a leopard cub that had been injured by glass shards installed on the boundary wall of a bungalow near Pawna lake. The six-to-seven-month-old leopard was first spotted at 8 am on January 16 on the wall of a farmhouse in Morve village near the Tung Fort at Pawna dam in Pune district.

Around an hour-and-a-half later, the RESQ team received a call from Range Forest Officer (RFO) Hanumant Jadhav from the Pune forest department's Maval range and Jigar Solanki and Nilesh Garade from the organisation Wildlife Rescuers of Maval, asking for assistance in rescuing the big cat. A RESQ team immediately mobilised and the team, led by Tuhin Satarkar, director of wildlife management at RESQ CT, Pune, arrived at 11.50 am.

Satarkar told mid-day, "The leopard had climbed a tree and was sitting on a branch. It was trapped inside the farm and was unable to jump over the boundary wall as it was covered with glass shards. The leopard had bruises all over its face. We suspect this was a result of it trying to climb the wall."

Neha Panchamiya, founder and president of RESQ CT, said, "Our wildlife veterinarian on the field, Dr Nikita Mehta, successfully darted the leopard, after which it was safely captured and transferred to a cage."