A heartwarming video shows the moment three newborn leopard cubs were reunited by locals in Indian-administered Kashmir with their mother a week after being abandoned.
The wild infants, found in Wagoora, north Kashmir, were nursed back to health by locals on a diet of minced meat after being found in an apple orchard where they had been born.
Watch the video here.
With Kashmir people known for hospitality all across the globe ¨C and it was no different for the left alone young wild animals to experience generosity. As many as three lost leopard cubs were taken care of by locals before reuniting them with their mother who was probably on the hunting.
¡°We bought them minced meat and they responded well. It is one of the most remarkable experiences by feeding young wild ones. The leopardess could have lost her way through or taken too long while being on hunting to feed cubs,¡± said one of the caretakers.
In the footage, the cubs are seen leaning happily against each other in a den.
Earlier, with input from an orchard owner, the local volunteers came to know about abandoned cubs who fed them until their mother showed up.
The proprietor found peripatetic cubs who were frequently calling their mum.
¡°It¡¯s a beautiful sight to behold; I could go on telling the whole world that I have fed the cubs of the Leopardess in a cave. A Kashmiri can thoroughly understand what it means to see a mother¡¯s reunion with their infants. This is motherhood,¡± maintained another youngster, who is chuffed for their get-together.
As the spring season is in full swing in Kashmir, the abandoned cubs in an orchard have brought a smile to everyone¡¯s face after weathering the storm during the harshest winter period in the Kashmir region.
¡°At least, for the first three months, the cubs rely on mother¡¯s milk before going on weaning and live a solitary life after the first 20 to 24 months of their birth,¡± said Fayaz Ahmad, a veterinarian.
The volunteers who were students knew their decision was tricky while considering their act could have provoked leopardess. However, with the utmost care, they went on to the daring journey of feeding cubs before their mother arrived in the orchard.
It becomes pertinent to mention that wildlife straying in the human habitat has increased following the depletion of the forest cover. Besides, the winter season across Kashmir has further forced wild animals to enter residential areas for survival.
Supriya Bhatt, who worked with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), in her research, maintained that the population of leopards in India has gone down by 75-90 % due to the reduction of prey density, poaching, and destruction of their habitat apart from human-leopard conflicts.
Post-2000, Kashmir had witnessed a surge in human-wild encounters which resulted in injuries to dozens of residents across the Himalayan region, to which officials said that it¡¯s due to the shrinking of wild habit due to encroachment or dwindling of forest cover.
Meanwhile, the wildlife official Sameer maintained that they receive multiple calls for rescue especially in winters which according to him is a common practice.
¡°It¡¯s nothing new for us to come down to an urban area to rescue wild animals. It is a common sight especially in rural areas,¡± he stated.
To celebrate their successful operation ¡®reunion¡¯ the locals had vowed to not visit leopardess¡¯ territory for a while until cubs grow and leave the particular area.
¡°It's incredible to see our young boys doing something positive for the wild animals. The whole village appreciates their effort which was filled with danger,¡± Ali Mohammad, a local asserted.
Undeniably, nature has plenty of ways to amaze us with her strange ways ¡ª this time humans reuniting two-month-old leopard cubs for all good.