A quick thinking by locals from Pimpalgaon as well the Junnar Forest division helped save the life of a three-year-old female leopard, which had fallen in a well on Sunday morning. According to forest department officials, it was early on Sunday a local farmer Kisan Khandagale alerted them about a leopard fallen in the well. Even as the forest officials rushed to the spot they found the leopard frantically swimming in the well.
Knowing well that the already scared and traumatised leopard could get exhausted due to continuous paddling in the water and end up drowning, Forestor Vitthal Thorat quickly along with locals gathered dried Karvi sticks and bundled them up and tied them, creating a kind of platform which was then suspended from the top using wires. Seeing this platform the leopard immediately jumped off the water and stood on it.
Meanwhile, even the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre (MLRC) team led by veterinary officer Dr Ajay Deshmukh who was alerted by the Junnar forest officials had also reached the site along with rescue cages. "It was a very good move by the forest officials as during our workshops for forests department on rescuing leopards we tell them that such platforms could end up saving lives of leopard and in this case too, it proved to be a saviour for the leopard who could have died by drowning as it could not have kept paddling for a very long time," said Deshmukh.
"The village is around 20km from our rescue centre and it took us around 30 minutes to reach the spot. We saw that the leopard was safely standing on the karvi stick platform. We decided to lower the rescue cages using ropes ensuring its stability and as soon as the cage came in front of the leopard, it quickly jumped and got inside it and the door was shut," informed Deshmukh, adding that the leopard would have probably fallen in the well chasing a prey and would be released.
