The three-week old cubs were found in sugarcane fields of Somatwadi village in Junnar.
It's said that nothing can beat a mother's instinct and this holds true in the wild too. In a rare video footage that will strike an emotional chord, two leopard cubs who were left behind in a sugarcane farm can be seen being re-united with their mother, who carefully picks them up and walks away.
Forest staff and officials from Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre (MLRC) run by NGO Wildlife SOS managed to ensure that two cubs, barely three weeks old, who were found on Wednesday in sugarcane fields of Somatwadi village, Junnar, were re-uniting with their mother within a few hours of being found.
“Locals from the village found the two cubs helpless and with their eyes closed at around 5pm while working in the fields. They were worried that their mother might attack them in anger on seeing people around the cub. So they moved the cubs away from the location and immediately alerted forest guard Sanjay Gaikwad who in turn informed us,” shared Dr. Ajay Deshmukh, Senior Veterinarian at MLRC. They quickly reached the spot to ensure that the scenario did not escalate into a human wildlife conflict situation.
According to Deshmukh, a detailed medical examination of the two leopard cubs was carried out and it was found that one was a male and another female and they were fit for being released. But the biggest challenge was reuniting the helpless cubs back with their aggrieved mother who was reported to be lurking around the village in search of her missing cubs.
“Our team carefully placed the two cubs in a safe box at around 7pm and placed it in the field where the leopard was last sighted. We also placed two remote-controlled camera traps to document the leopard cubs and the reunion process, while monitoring the area from a distance,” said Deshmukh. At around 9pm, the female leopard appeared and went straight to the basket, checking on her cubs and then carefully carried them by the scruff of their necks and vanished into the forest.
Forest officials claimed that the leopards over decades have adapted to sugarcane fields around Junnar and Nagar areas where they even give birth and rear their cubs. At times, when the mother is out on a hunt, the cubs are often found by local farmers and with help of MLRC they have managed to re-unite over 60 cubs with their mothers.
“We would like to ensure that these leopards don’t end up in captivity and hence we make every effort to try that such rescue and reunion operations are possible. It is crucial for leopard cubs to grow up with their mothers as they learn their skills for survival such as stalking, hunting and locating their prey from their mothers in the first 18 months of their life,” said Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder of Wildlife SOS.
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