Pune: RESQ Rescues Leopard From Morve
Pune, 16th January 2023: On the morning of 16th January, at 8:00 AM, a leopard was spotted walking on the wall of a farmhouse in Morve village, near the Tung Fort at Pawna Dam. Around 9:30 AM, the RESQ team received a call from RFO Hanumant Jadhav from Maval Range of the Pune Forest Department, and Jigar Solanki, Nilesh Garade from Wildlife Rescuers of Maval for assistance to evaluate the situation and rescue the animal if required. The teams immediately mobilised and were on their way. It took two hours to reach the location as the road was especially bad in the last patch.
The team led by Tuhin Satarkar, Director of Wildlife Management at RESQ CT, Pune, reached the location at 11:50 AM.
“Our team got a visual on the leopard and assessed the situation, the leopard looked about six-seven months old and had climbed a tree and was sitting on one of the branches. It was trapped inside the farm and was unable to jump over the boundary wall as the wall was covered in glass. The leopard had injured itself and had bruises over its face and on its wounds on it’s paws which we suspect were a result of it trying to climb up the boundary wall. Because of its injuries, the leopard needed to be captured and moved to the RESQ Wildlife TTC for further treatment,” says Tuhin Satarkar, Director – Wildlife Management, RESQ CT, Pune.
Neha Panchamiya, Founder and President of RESQ CT was constantly in touch with DCF Pune Forest Department Shri. Rahul Patil gave a green signal for capturing the animal using chemical immobilisation. Our wildlife veterinarian on the field Dr Nikita Mehta successfully darted the leopard after which it was safely captured and transferred to a cage. They conducted a basic health check-up which revealed deep wounds on all four of its paws and a cut on its face which it must have sustained while trying to climb the fence which was lined with glass shards.
The entire operation took 40 minutes – from arrival on the spot to safely transferring the leopard into a cage. Pune forest department staff RFO Hanumant Jadhav, and Foresters Daya, Chutke and Dhembare were part of the rescue operation along with RESQ Team members Tuhin Satarkar, Nachiket Utpat, Sayli Pilane, Aejaj Shaikh, Naresh Chandak, Gyanendra Singh, Tayyab Sayyed and RESQ Wildlife veterinarians Dr Nikita Mehta, and Dr Kalyani Thakur.
The leopard is currently at the RESQ Wildlife TTC, Pune where it will receive further treatment and rehabilitation.
Join Punekar News Whatsapp Group, Telegram, Instagram And Twitter For Regular Update about Pune City And Pimpri-Chinchwad
