One more lost leopard cub makes its way into Nashik rescue centre

A four-month-old female leopard cub will have to spend the rest of its life in captivity after several attempts of re-uniting it with its mother by the forest department and staff of Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre failed.

The leopard cub was found in a sugarcane field at Chapadgaon Village near Nashik by farmers, who alerted the forest department.

"Forest officials made several efforts to reunite the cub with its mother but she did not return to retrieve the cub. Most young leopards cannot survive on their own, hence the Chief Wildlife Warden made a decision to keep the cub at the rescue centre," said Assistant Conservator of Forest Yuvraj MohiteDr Ajay Deshmukh, veterinarian at the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre run by NGO Wildlife SOS , which houses 32 rescued leopards, said that the cub was active.

"It has undergone medical examination and we will monitor her health, as young cubs are extremely susceptible to various health issues. The cub will be now be hand-raised," he said. In the past, it has been noticed that the harvest season in the state witnesses higher instances of leopard sightings as female leopards find these tall dense fields a suitable shelter for giving birth and rearing their cubs. If the mother is driven away by farmers, they abandon their cubs.