Injured leopard recouping after treatment at Tamil Nadu tiger reserve

Chennai: A leopard, freed from a snare and treated in Tamil Nadu's Madumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), is recovering from the injuries it sustained, officials said on Tuesday.

The leopard which suffered an injury in the stomach after it was caught in a snare on October 1 at a private estate in Gudalur was rescued by the Nilgiris Forest division team. Forest Department officials told IANS that the owner of the private estate, Mathew was charged under Wild Life Protection Act 1972 and sent to judicial custody.

Two veterinary surgeons, Dr Rakesh Kumar and Dr Sridhar, and their teams are treating the injured leopard after it was tranquilised and kept in a cage at Theppekadu.

The veterinarians applied medicine to the wounds inflicted on the animal and it is being administered IV fluids. MTR Field Director, D. Venkatesh told media persons that the leopard was recovering in the cage and that it was being administered proper treatment.

He also said that after the animal recovers fully, it would be released back into the forests.

The Tamil Nadu Forest Department has already commenced awareness programmes in the areas adjoining forest land on how to deal with the wild animals that are reaching human habitats.

There have been several instances of human-animal conflicts in areas adjoining forest land with wild elephants, boars, and leopards occasionally intruding into human habitats and destroying crops, and attacking humans and leopards also killing domestic animals and at times, even human beings.