While it is not uncommon to hear about leopard cubs being reunited with their kin after straying into sugarcane fields during harvest season, a three-month-old cub that had fallen into a well near Pune was brought back to its mother in an unusual operation on Thursday night. Remarkably, the operation—which was carried out by RESQ Charitable Trust, an animal rescue centre, and the Pune forest department—was carried out in about four hours.

The assistant conservator of forest (ACF) from the Pune forest department informed Neha Panchamiya, founder and president of RESQ Charitable Trust, about the incident around 3.30 pm, after which a team swung into action and immediately reached the spot with Forest Official Anil Rathod from the forest department.