Five-year-old Bheem ponders at the gate as a flurry of photographers wait anxiously to capture the moment he sets out into the outside world. A few seconds earlier, he was nervously scratching at the window, almost as if he knew. Then, amidst sighs and whoops, he breaks into a run, determined to make up for all the years he had spent in his matchbox enclosure.
No, Bheem has not been set free. But for a leopard rescued and hand-reared since he was a cub, this is the closest that he can get to freedom. In a strenuous night-long operation on Sunday, Bheem and 10 other leopards, who had been living in cramped enclosures at Borivli's Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), were transported to their new homes: A brand new rescue centre with an 8 x 9 ft feeding cage leading to a bigger 40 x 50 ft secondary cage where they can roam around, even climb logs and a table provided for them.
"It was not an easy task. Each leopard took around 4 hours to move. The three left will be shifted tonight," says forest guard Dhanajee Gaikwad as he watches 7-year-old Arjun climbing on to a tree stump.
"He has seen the outside world for years," he adds. Back in the feeding cages, animal keepers are struggling to push out four male leopards huddled in one corner, spitting and snarling and refusing to go into the bigger cage. "They have spent almost all their lives in this tiny space, so they are scared," says one protectively.
Many staffers insisted that this project would have taken longer had it not been for SGNP's director Vikas Gupta and Shailesh Deore, superintendent of the lion and tiger safari. After the recent leopard deaths that rocked the national park, this was a long-pending happy day for them. "It is a dream come true. All our hard work has paid off," says Deore. Gupta is glad that many of the older leopards will at least spend some time closer to nature. "I am so thrilled that they are happy, and so, I am very happy," he signs off.
Box: A dream that took 8 years to realise
Project began in: 2008
Budget: Rs 1.15 crore
No. of enclosures: 8 feeding cages, 4 secondary cages each in 3 single-storey structures
Size of feeding cage: 8 x 9 ft
Size of secondary cage: 40 x 50 ft
USP: The secondary cage, which has foliage, a log and a table for the leopards to climb
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