SIMBA'S RESCUE STORY
In March of 2021, a two-month-old cub was found near a village named Kolwade situated in Sangamner forest range. Leopard mothers give birth to cubs in sugarcane fields because the thick foliage of the grass acts as a perfect shelter to protect them from lurking predators, when she is away and busy looking for food. A similar thing happened when the villagers came across the cub near the village and alerted the Maharashtra Forest Department. Despite several reunion attempts, the mother never returned, presumably having left the area or worse yet, having succumbed to the perils of living in a concrete jungle. Abandoned and unfit to survive in the wild, the cub was rehabilitated at the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre.
He was named Simba after the famous fictional character from the movie The Lion King. After a year under our care, Simba can be seen being his playful and energetic self. Upon arriving, he had a minor tail injury which our veterinary team attended to. Although that injury has healed, the vets make sure to keep him under observation. Though he had to be hand-reared by our care team, our goal was to preserve Simba’s natural wild instincts and thus he was placed in a vast enclosure that approximated his natural environment. With enrichments that pushed him to utilize his natural foraging instincts, Simba grew up to be a healthy and strong leopard.
His energetic nature has earned him quite the reputation. There’s nothing more Simba loves than climbing trees, so much so that he would happily ignore the other enrichments arranged for him and spend almost the entire day trying to get on the branches. To see this young sub-adult grow into such a lively spirit brings a smile on our faces and we only wish a bright future ahead for him.
