Urgently needed: Home for rescued leopards

DEHRADUN: Rescued leopards are giving a tough time to forest officers as some of them are still undergoing treatment. That’s the reason why the importance of rescue centres in the hill state has gained ground in the past decade.

Nainital Zoo houses 11 leopards. Of the total, a 13-year-old leopard is paralytic. The animal had suffered a paralysis stroke after which it was brought to the zoo in August 2016. The animal is in isolation and veterinarian and officers are monitoring its health everyday. “The leopard was brought last year after rescue and has its hind part paralysed. We have kept it on medication and are observing its health 24X7,” Dharam Singh Meena, divisional forest officer (DFO) Nainital and director of the zoo, told Hindustan Times.

Another leopard that was kept in a separate enclosure at the zoo has cataract in one eye. The animal is partially blind and therefore, after keeping it under observation for a few months, it was shifted with other healthy leopards in the zoo. “Physically the animal is healthy, the only problem is its eyesight. It cannot hunt. We cannot release it in the wild as it would mean risking the leopard’s life. it may also lead to man-animal conflict,” said Dr Yogesh Bharadwaj, veterinarian at the zoo. There’s a rescue centre at Ranibagh, which has two leopards of which one has cataract. The story of Raja, the male leopard rescued in 2008 from Mussoorie forest division, is well known. The leopard was found with its throat brutally slit by steel wire trap set up poachers. The animal was on verge of death but the forest department utilised all its resources to give Raja a second life. “The leopard is about 10 years old now and healthy,” said PK Patro, divisional forest officer Dehradun and director Masli Deer Park where Raja is presently kept.