Villagers take selfies, attempt to ride a sick leopard in MP: Video

The leopard is in critical condition and has been kept under 24-hour surveillance.

In a disturbing incident, people in the Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh were spotted taking selfies with a sick leopard and even trying to ride on the distressed animal. The incident was recorded on camera and was widely shared on social media, prompting forest officials to take action.

Sick leopard being surrounded by a group of villagers in Madhya Pradesh. (X/@PTI_News)

The video shows people, some holding sticks, standing or sitting close to the leopard, touching him and taking photos. A man can even be seen trying to ride the animal as he walks.

After the incident came to light, the leopard was rescued by forest officials and taken to a zoo in Indore city. According to forest officials, the big cat suffers from a brain disorder and is in critical condition, battling for his life.

“The seriously-ill leopard’s body is stiffening and the animal is getting seizure attacks around every 20 minutes. Prima facie, the animal is suffering from some brain disorder,” said Dr Uttam Yadav, in-charge of Indore’s Kamla Nehru Zoo.

“This is for the first time we saw that despite being harassed by the villagers, the leopard neither roared at them nor resisted their attempts. This is very shocking because no matter how sick and weak big cats are, they never give up their in-built nature of resistance when they are in trouble,” he added.

The leopard has been kept under 24-hour surveillance.