It was a Sunday afternoon, around 2:00pm when I got the call from my colleagues. I was all set to watch the cricket match between India and England which was being played in Bangalore. It was the world cup after all. All I remember is the person on the other side of the phone saying ‘leopard rescue’. The next thing I knew, three of my colleagues from The Shola Trust and me were driving (flying if you ask me!) to Bithercad where the leopard was said to have been trapped in someone’s house.
The narrow lane leading upto the victim’s house was filled with people. Some of them excited about the visitor from the wild. But the majority were excited about the attention their small village was getting (from officers from the forest department, journalists and reporters from TV channels). As we were nearing the epi-centre of the incident, the crowd only got bigger and bigger. Men from the forest department were already there and were doing their best to get the situation under control. The leopard was trapped inside a small room, used as a storage space for agricultural tools. All the doors and windows of the room were shut tightly and held shut by 4 or 5 men from the village.
Field Director of Mudumalai, Dr. Srivastava and Deputy Director, Mr. Ameer Haja arrived with the vet, Dr. Kalaivanan. It was great to see the enthusiasm of the forest department, from the FD down to the guards, really wanting to save the leopard. But enthusiasm alone was not enough!
For the next four hours the leopard was stuck inside the dark room that was surrounded by hundreds of people smoking beedis and playing loud music on their phones! No wonder it took 6 darts to knock out the scared and anxious animal. The local politicians were quick to make the most of the situation. They wanted compensation. Compensation not only for the injured woman, but also for cattle missing since 1997 followed by a string of other incidnets since. People were demanding why the leopard’s life was more valuable than theirs and the mob was beginning to get unruly and violent when preparations were being made to move the cat out of the house. It also didn’t help that the guards (who were already understaffed) were sent on last minute errands to fetch ropes, sticks and other knick-knacks needed for the second part of the operation. When finally, the animal was being moved out of the house, people started throwing themselves at the rescue jeep and refused to give way. Moving inch by inch, the vehicle finally broke away from the mad crowd. The tranquilised leopard was then taken to Ettimoola to be treated before being released back into the wild.
When we reached Ettimoola (after stopping by Gudalur to buy a few extra antibiotics to treat the leopard), the leopard was lying on the ground, still knocked out. It was severely injured. Its entire hind portion was filled with puncture marks and wounds, possibly from a fight with a tiger or another leopard. The vet’s main medicine kit arrived about 45 mins later, since his assistant wasn’t able to get into the right vehicle and got stuck behind. Time was of vital essence as the there was just limited time before the tranquilizers would wear off and the leopard regained consciousness.
Assessing the wounds, the vet knew he had a mammoth task at hand, and very little time. The vet worked on the leopard for about an hour, in which time it started regaining consciousness! Though he didn’t give it high chances of surviving everyone was hoping for the best.
When it was ready to be transported to Chikhalla (the northern part of Mudumalai) to be released, more time was wasted in figuring out the transport for the animal. The animal was caught in Gudalur Division, but the whole operation was being conducted by the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, where it was going to be released. Who was going to pay for the whole things was the main concern! After some confusion about this, the pickup truck finally arrived, just in time!
Despite my fervent hopes and prayers, the leopard didn’t make it. It died during the early hours of the morning. They said it wouldn’t have made it in the wild or captivity anyway.
It was a great experience, but I can’t help but feel the prince should have been treated much better!
Nishita Vasanth