At 11 AM on January 26, Wildlife SOS had a surprise visitor. An 8 week old leopard cub had been found by a farmer in a sugarcane field. The farmer was unsure of what do, so he brought her to Wildlife SOS.
Dr. Ajay was at the center when the cub arrived and he gave her a quick medical exam to determine if she needed any immediate medical interventions. However, the female weighing in at 1.5 kg was found to be spunky and in excellent health, all she needed was her mother.
Dr. Ajay made the executive decision to try and reunite her with her mother. He felt optimistic that this was achievable because of his successful past experiences, but he knew time was of the essence.
He quickly assembled a field team and they deployed to the sugarcane fields and located the place where the cub had been found. It was early in the evening, but after dark. Dr. Ajay reflects, “We wanted to know if the mother was around, so we lit a torch on one side of the sugarcane field. In the light we saw some eyes blink. We were ecstatic because we were sure that was the mom!â€
After confirming that mom was lingering around the field, the team took the cub and put it in a crate. The team then proceeded to remove themselves from the crate and wait. Anxiously, the team waited for 3 hours and then went back to see if the cub had left with mom. The crate was found to be empty.
Dr. Ajay who loves leopards says, “I am so pleased that this cub was reunited with her mom and that she will grow up in the wild. I am proud of my team and thankful to the farmer who cared enough to bring her to us.â€
