GEORGE'S RESCUE STORY
In 2019, a leopard mother, while hunting for food at night, fell into an uncovered well in Maharashtra and drowned. The next morning, a farmer alerted the forest department and Wildlife SOS of the presence of two cubs inside another open well nearby.
When the Wildlife SOS team from the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre arrived at the location, they found the body of a female leopard in the well, and deduced that the cubs spotted in the well nearby were hers. It was assumed that the cubs went out looking for their mother when she did not return for more than a while, and themselves fell into another well.
Since they were only three months old, Natalie and George would not have survived in the wild without the necessary guidance leopard mothers provide for the first two years of her cubs’ lives. The siblings therefore were hand-reared at the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre, where they are under dedicated long-term care. The two have grown as healthy leopards and have made the rescue centre their home.
George’s favourite enrichment is a wooden log that he climbs up to seamlessly. He sits on this log to keep a vigilant eye on all his surroundings. Our caregivers often call George “the guardian of the sanctuary”, as nothing misses his keen eye!
