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Your contributions help us rescue and rehabilitate leopards in Maharashtra as well as reunite several leopard cubs with their mothers to prevent them from becoming orphans.
Seeing Leopards around the human-dominated landscapes in most parts of Maharashtra is no longer unheard of. With the increased number of sugarcane fields, leopards have adapted to survive and proliferate in these agricultural lands which often results in encounters with humans or human-inflicted changes in the landscape. Due to the extremely low human activity in sugarcane fields which is only harvested after a year, the most common scenario of Leopard encounters is orphan cubs found in these fields. The RESQ team swiftly responds to such situations when called upon by the Forest Department and a dedicated effort to reunite the cubs with their mother is carried out. Most times, if the reunion is successful if attempted immediately in the first 48 hours of the cubs being found. Once at the location, our teams do some tracking to understand the best reunion site. The locals are also made aware of the species and generally, they offer full cooperation when explained about the ecological role and disadvantages of removing the cubs (the mother will mate again and have cubs again). Our teams use live cameras and special setups to make it conducive for the mother to come and take her kittens away to a safe location. The entire process is remotely monitored.
However, sometimes if the cubs are reported late or orphaned due to some other reason, they are admitted to the RESQ Wildlife TTC for rehabilitation to decide on an appropriate course of action further. Such cubs stay with us for 3-6 months depending on their medical condition and history. It may not always be an option to release them back into the wild as crucial survival skills like hunting, hiding and most importantly staying away from humans may not be engraved into them like their mother. You could get a deeper insight into this in this article that explains the challenges in rewilding Leopard cubs.
For other reasons, Leopards are admitted to the RESQ Wildlife TTC in various conditions like being injured in road accidents, falling in open wells, or being caught in traps or electric fences. Such leopards sometimes require surgical intervention and post-operative care until they are fit to be released.
On an average, it costs us Rs. 2,000 to conduct a reunion for a cub and its mother which includes amounts for our teams to respond swiftly and cub care until they are reunited. For an orphan that is under rehabilitation with us, it costs us an average of Rs. 4,000 per month which includes their special nutrition feeds, veterinary care and rehabilitation supplies and care items until release/transfer to a permanent care facility.