BENGALURU: In a first, officials of the Karnataka Forest Department officials successfully reunited a one-and-a-half-year-old male leopard cub with its mother, without coming in contact with it.The cub was found in a private land in the backwaters of Kabini in Nagarghole Tiger Reserve (NTR). Soon after it was sighted, the locals informed the forest staffers and the area was cordoned off.
NTR Director D Mahesh Kumar said the staffers, who rushed to the spot, were instructed to have the least human contact with the cub. The staffers wore gloves so that there was no human imprint on the surroundings. Makeshift barricades were put up around the site using vegetable crates to keep the cub safe from predators. Next a continuous watch was kept from a distance
The cub was sighted on Tuesday and after a wait of a night, the mother came and picked up her cub by breaking through the barricades. Delighted forest staffers have now marked the area. They said that such an effort has been done for the first time in two years. They added that this can now be replicated in other areas also, where leopard cubs are sighted and people’s interference is high. This will also reduce the pressure on zoos to hand-raise abandoned leopard cubs and a healthy wildlife space will be created, with little or no man-animal conflict.