Big cat captured from Andheri playschool: Rescued leopard cub undergoing treatment

A day after a one-and-a-half-year-old leopard was captured from a playschool in the Sher-e-Punjab locality in Andheri East, the female cub is undergoing fluid replenishment at the rescue centre in Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

“Since she was found in a dehydrated condition, we are administering fluids to her. She is under observation and we will have to wait for her to recover to decide whether she should be released in to the wild again,” said Jitendra Ramgaonkar, deputy conservator of forests, Thane forest range.

The leopard seemed to have reached the residential area from Aarey, which is known to house at least three leopards.

“Aarey is not too far from the area, and leopards are known to wander into human settlements. They are shy animals which move during the night. She must have found the area deserted and walked into it. The many disturbance in Aarey, with regard to the metro car depot construction and other activities, could also have been a factor,” said Sunish Subramanian, honourary wildlife warden, Mumbai city.

The leopard was first spotted at 5.30 am at a Gurudwara in Sher-e-Punjab. It later moved into an adjoining building where it settled in a playschool. It was rescued from there after a 12-hour operation by the rescue team.

“We had to wait for the rescue team from Sanjay Gandhi National Park to arrive as we did not have tranquilisers or doctors on hand. So we blocked the only exit and waited for them to return from Chalisgaon, where they had gone for another operation. We saw splendid coordination with this rescue, as all departments — forest, police and fire — worked together with local residents to rescue the animal without any damage to human life or to the animal,” added Subramanian.