90 leopard cubs reunited with mothers in Maharashtra in 15 years

Once a centre of leopard-human conflict, the Junnar area in Pune district is now seeing cubs reuined with their mothers.

Wildlife SOS and the Maharashtra Forest Department have consistently been training the locals on human-leopard conflict mitigation in the region. These training and awareness programmes have ensured the successful reunions of over 90 leopard cubs with their mothers over the last 15 years.

For farmers in Maharashtra, it has become common to find leopard cubs in their sugarcane fields as the mothers choose the dense fields to be safe abodes for the cubs.

As many as 16 cubs were reunited with their mothers this harvest season itself.

In every reunion and rescue operation, the locals are important facilitators, without whose support and timely calls, the operation would not be possible. In areas located in proximity to leopard habitats, the locals, including schoolchildren, are taught about leopard behaviour, conflicts and conservation. In these workshops, Wildlife SOS also focuses on increasing people’s tolerance, diminishing their fears and stifling misbeliefs about the animals.

The team assists the Forest Department in such operations using the latest technology of camera traps and IP cameras, which help in successful reunions and also prove useful during conflict mitigation.

Dr Nikhil Bangar, Wildlife Veterinary Officer, Wildlife SOS, said, “The sugarcane harvest season in Maharashtra especially sees many cases of leopard cubs being found among the fields. The locals in these regions have been prompt in alerting us or the forest department ever since we have been conducting awareness programmes for them on conflict mitigation.”

Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS, said, “It is very crucial for displaced leopard cubs to be reunited with their mother as these cubs learn vital skills for their survival in the wild from her until about two years of age. It is only with the support of locals and the forest department that we have successfully reunited over 90 cubs to date and shall undertake all efforts to do so in the future.”

With years of accumulated knowledge and research on wildlife habitats, ecology and behaviour of individual species, the team is able to ensure that reunions are carried out with the least distress to the cubs and their mothers.

“For instance, the veterinarians ensure that handling of the cubs is kept to a minimum to not make them further anxious. Minimising the time of separation between cubs and mothers is an important contributing factor to a successful reunion. When placing the cubs in a safe box for the reunion process, the team also lines the box with scent markings like the cub’s urine drops to help the mother leopard locate them more easily,” the Wildlife SOS said.