Four-year-old leopard rescued from well in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris

Tamil Nadu Chief Wildlife Warden Shekhar Kumar Niraj said district forest officials and range officers immediately reached the spot. “Dr Rajesh (Veterinarian, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve) was also present. It took about four hours to rescue the animal and it was later put in a cage. More than 15 forest officials and other staff members, including local police personnel, were involved in the operation because we also needed to cordon off the area,” he added.

Around 9 am on Saturday, locals heard some noise from inside the well and alerted the police. (Express Photo)

Doctors are examining the leopard. After providing adequate treatment, it will be released into the wild.

“The presence of onlookers often scares the animal. Many of them die during rescue efforts due to stress. Sometimes, hundreds of people gather. So we deployed staff to ensure there were no onlookers around 100 metres from the spot,” Niraj said, adding that district forest officials have been instructed to get all open wells across Nilgiris covered with animal-proof lids to avert such incidents.

“It has become common in the Nilgiris to have open wells and a lot of animals fall into them, be it elephants or leopards. If they fall, there is only a 50 per cent chance of survival. So I have instructed DFOs to make sure all open wells are covered,” he said.

“We are also planning to set up a Rapid Response Team comprising forest officials and veterinarians because getting resources is very tough. I am planning to set up at least eight-ten well-equipped teams, with two in Nilgiris as well as in other vulnerable districts like Coimbatore, Dindigul, Tirunelveli, Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, etc, so in future, we can carry out rescue operations quicker,” Niraj explained.