Cub reunites with leopardess after four-day-long effort by rescuers

For three days since Monday, when the cub was first spotted by the villagers, wildlife volunteer Hemant Vadhwana and Waghodia Range Forest Officer Chandrika Choudhary unsuccessfully attempted to reunite the cub with the mother. The cub was kept in a basket at the same spot where it had been found and camera traps were used to track the movement of the mother.

While the leopardess arrived at the spot on all three nights — Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday — she did not attempt to come close to the cub. The rescuers finally had a moment of success on Thursday night when the mother finally took away her cub.

“Since leopards are nocturnal in nature, we were expecting the mother to arrive at night… Also, the leopardess would return to the spot where her cub has been lost for at least six or seven nights until she is convinced that it has been lost or killed. The longer the gap in the reunion, the more difficult it becomes. Therefore, as soon as the villagers called me on Monday, I immediately coordinated with the forest officials to ensure that we sit out to have the cub reunite with the mother,” Vadhwana told The Indian Express.

He added the Forest Department installed night vision cameras. As the movement of the big cat was tracked, the team was sure the mother would come back to the spot.

“We first kept the cub in a safe box. For the first two nights, she returned but stayed away… She was scared that she would be caught or attacked. Although she kept watching her cub, she did not come near. It is also possible she would have sniffed some human scent from the cub as it had been handled by the villagers before we arrived and leopards have a sharp sense of smell… We decided not to give up even though she was aborting her attempt to come close. Fortunately, on Wednesday, she came close to the safe box but returned without taking the cub along. We decided to lay the cub without the safe box on Thursday. Much to our delight and relief, she returned and swiftly took away the cub, catching it by the collar,” Vadhwana said.

He added the forest officials also counselled the villagers to co-exist with the big cats. “The village has not reported any human-leopard conflict. We believe that his leopard lived in the swamp area of the Dev River that flows near the village. However, the construction of an internal village road, which began last week, forced the leopard to relocate. Villagers in Jaffarpur are very sensitive to the presence of the big cats.

They understand that having big cats in the vicinity also helps protect their fields from nilgai and boars at night. The villagers also follow the safety protocol for leopard-prone areas,” Vadhwana said.