Pilibhit: An 18-month-old sub-adult leopardess barged into a house in Joginia village of Bahraich district around 9 am on Sunday and injured three family members who tried to drive it away before it finally took shelter in a room.The animal was later tranquillised and released into the forest after a medical examination found it to be healthy, officials said.Mohammad Naseem (55), Jubair Ur Rahman (32) and Fazal ur Rahman (67) were taken to a govt health facility for treatment.The rescue operation, led by Dr Deepak Verma, veterinary officer at Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, lasted around 90 minutes. “The sub-adult leopard cubs constantly face threats from wolves, hyenas, tigers and even adult male leopards. It is possible that the leopardess entered the village house in search of shelter after losing the protection of its mother,” said divisional forest officer S Sundaresh.This was the third leopard rescue in Bahraich in the last four days. A sub-adult male leopard, around one-and-a-half years old, was rescued through caging in the Mahsi area on May 20, while its mother was trapped on May 22.Dr Mudit Gupta, tiger expert at WWF-India and senior landscape coordinator for the Terai Arc Landscape in Uttar Pradesh, said the increasing number of leopards straying into villages near forest areas could be linked to the growing tiger population .“As leopards generally occupy fringe areas of forests because of threats posed by tigers, an increase in tiger numbers may push them towards rural areas. At present, sugarcane crops are also too short to provide adequate cover, forcing leopards to move into human habitations,” he said.
