Leopard cubs rescued from village in Mandya

Officials said the group of youngsters on Wednesday rescued two leopard cubs trapped beneath a boulder near agricultural land in the Kolagere village in the Mandya district. The youths -- Shivamurthy, Keerthi Kumar and their friends -- noticed that several cubs were trapped beneath the boulder, they added.

Forest officers took custody of two leopard cubs from Kolagere village in Mandya district hours after they were rescued by a group of youngsters, who took them to the village, officials said on Thursday.

Forest officers took custody of two leopard cubs from Kolagere village in Mandya hours after they were rescued by youngsters (HT Photo)

Officials said the group of youngsters on Wednesday rescued two leopard cubs trapped beneath a boulder near agricultural land in the Kolagere village in the Mandya district. The youths -- Shivamurthy, Keerthi Kumar and their friends -- noticed that several cubs were trapped beneath the boulder, they added.

However, the act of kindness turned into an offence under Wildlife Protection Act 1972when they decided to take the cubs to their village instead of releasing them, officials said.

Hours after the incident, forest officers later took custody of the two leopard cubs from one of the houses where the youth had kept the cubs. According to the forest department, after the cubs were taken to the village, hundreds of villagers thronged to see the cubs.

As soon as the news reached the forest department, regional forest officer N Gaviyappa and his team rushed to spot and rescued the cubs.

‘’Soon after hearing the news, we rushed to spot and rescued both cubs. Since Wednesday afternoon, we have been trying to unite cubs with their mother,‘’ RFO N Gaviyappa said.

“We have placed a cage in the sugarcane field with cubs in case the mother comes searching for cubs,” he added.

“In a similar method, forest officers united two cubs with their mother at Nanjanagudu months back, so we are also trying the same method. The cubs are around two months old. Leopards take shelter in sugarcane fields for reproduction. The leopard could have attacked humans while rescuing cubs, but the villagers took the cubs while the mother was away in search of food. We will wait for some more time to unite with the mother and send her to a rescue centre for raising cubs if we fail to find the mother,” Gayivappa said, adding that no case has been registered against the villagers.

Meanwhile, in another incident, forest officers caught a leopard in Mudanahalli farmhouse in K R Pete taluk in Mandya on Thursday.

Officials said the leopard entered the house of farmer Ninge Gowda and killed a goat. The leopard also attacked Ninge Gowda and his wife Prabhavathi, who are undergoing treatment in the hospital.

“They locked the leopard inside the house and informed forest officers,” officials added.