HYDERABAD: A three-year-old female leopard kept under observation after being injured in a train accident in Nizamabad district on Tuesday is recovering fast. However, officials feel the animal will not be able to hunt or fend for itself in the wild and is planning to house it in the zoo.
“The leopard is unable to stand on its limbs and there is no facility for an artificial tail as it’s too late now,” said zoo hospital veterinarian MA Hakeem. The leopard lost 2/3rd of its tail in the accident. The incident occurred when the leopard was trying to cross the railway track. After being rescued, the leopard was sent to Hyderabad zoo park in a special vehicle.
The animal has been kept under medical observation for 48 hours and it would take around one month to recover. “Its left limbs are injured, but the condition is stable. It would not be very difficult for the animal to get along with other leopards in the zoo,” Hakeem added.
The Nizamabad Divisional Forest Officer V.N.V.V. Prasad said that the forest department has surveyed the forest area and found that 18 leopards in the vicinity. He said that the department has been mulling precautionary measures to prevent such accidents in the future by setting up fence on the side of railway tracks in the forest area. The incident also brings to light that the State has only one super specialty veterinary hospital —at the Nehru zoo park in Hyderabad.