Mumbai: Lost leopard cub reunited with mother

In an extremely challenging operation, forest department officials reunited a four-week-old leopard cub with its mother at Film City in Goregaon East. The mother turned out to be C33-Delta, a leopardess that had been radio-collared by the forest department and released last year. C33 is known to lurk between Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and Aarey Milk Colony but despite roaming close to human settlements, she tends to avoid people.

On October 12, mid-day reported on how a security guard had saved the cub from stray dogs on Monday morning and handed it over to forest department personnel.

The cub was immediately moved to the animal hospital at SGNP where it was kept under the care of veterinary officer Dr Shailesh Pethe and under the supervision of Range Forest Officer Vijay Barabde.

Also Read: Mumbai: Security guard saves leopard cub's life

Barabde and his leopard rescue team members, Vaibhav Patil, Sandeep Gaikwad, Dinesh Gupta, Rajesh Meghwale, Prashant Tokare, Ajay Chune, Dr Shailesh Pethe and Dr Jasna Nambiar, played a crucial role in this operation. Volunteers from the Aarey Leopard Group, Wildlife Welfare Association and Wildlife Conservation Society - India tried reuniting the leopard cub with its mother on Monday evening.

The leopard rescue team, which played a crucial role in the operation

The leopardess was observed lurking in the surroundings but she did not approach the cage in which the cub was kept.
On Tuesday evening, the team tried to reunite the duo again. Live infrared cameras and camera traps were installed in areas around the cage in order to monitor the big cats.

Around 3.45 am on Wednesday, the leopardess came close to the cage and a rescue team member immediately opened the door of the cage using a pulley and rope, setting the cub free. Within minutes, the leopardess started nursing her cub and disappeared into the bushes with the latter in her jaw.

Based on the rosette patterns on her body, the leopardess was identified as LC125, previously known as C33.

SGNP Director and Conservator of Forest (CF) G Mallikarjun said, "The reunion of the cub with its mother was a challenging task for our team as the area where the reunion operation was undertaken sees the frequent movement of people and is close to a road in Film City. The hard work taken by our staff and volunteers has paid off."

Barabde said, "Early on Wednesday, our teammates who were posted in the area saw live footage of the leopardess approaching the cage on their mobile phone via surveillance cameras. Without making much noise, one of our forest department staff manually opened the door of the cage which was tied with the rope using a pulley. Seeing its mother, the cub went out of the cage, following which the former took it away. This successful reunion would have not been possible without the support of all the volunteers and staff from Film City who helped us. In order to prevent the cub from getting wet in the rain, a plastic sheet was laid out at a height as a precautionary measure."

PCCF Wildlife West Clement Ben also praised the efforts taken by the forest department staff of SGNP and Thane in reuniting the cub with its mother.