Surat: In a rare occurrence, a three-month-old leopard cub was reunited with her mother after 19 days of separation in Mandvi forest range of Surat division. The entire reunion was captured in a trap camera installed by the forest department at the spot.
Officials said the cub was lying injured on the road after being hit by some vehicle near Tarsada village under the jurisdiction of Mandvi south forest range on October 18.
The forest team rescued the cub and shifted it to a veterinary doctor’s clinic in Mandvi for primary treatment. However, the cub was then taken to veterinary college in Navsari as it had internal injuries.
“Our staff made all efforts to ensure that the cub had food and survived. After it recovered, we launched efforts to reunite it with her mother. The leopard was spotted near Tarsadi village. We installed three trap cameras and as many CCTVs around the area and kept a constant watch,” Puneet Nayyar, deputy conservator of forests, Surat division, told TOI.
Around five days ago, the cub was finally reunited with her mother on November 6.
“We observed that mother came close to the cub but did not take it along initially. But on November 6, she came again there with her another cub and took it with her. This is a rare happening and we are happy to see the cub is now roaming in its rightful place -the forests,” Nayyar added.
On an average, six to seven cases of reunion between separated mother and cubs are reported every year. But in earlier cases, the reunion happened within a maximum of six to seven days. This was a rare case where the mother took her cub along after 19 days.
According to officials, there are around 37 leopards in Surat district.