Kaziranga NP, February 7, 2016: Leopards straying into human habitat and resulting increase in human-leopard conflict has become an everyday story for those living around forested areas in India. Recently, a male leopard entering a school in Bengaluru and injuring six people trying to capture it made news in national newspapers. Meanwhile a similar story unfolded in Assam, but in this case, the sub-adult female leopard was rescued and released back to the wild by the IFAW-WTI team with no human injuries.

On February 7, the IFAW-WTI MVS team was informed by the forest authorities about a leopard that was hiding in a poultry shed of a house in Seleng Ghat area under Jorhat Forest Division in Assam. Soon after receiving the information, the IFAW-WTI team, led by Dr Panjit Basumatary, reached the spot.

The female sub-adult leopard had entered the village on February 6 using the cover of the night and created panic after it killed livestock. Though the animal didn’t attack any human being, it had managed to create scare amongst the locals.

The IFAW-WTI MVS team with support of the Forest Department staff of Jorhat sedated the animal and took it to Mariyani Reserve Forest for release the same day.

“I am happy to release the leopard in its own habitat without much hassle. The FD officials, other stakeholders and IFAW-WTI MVS team noticed the leopard disappearing deep inside the forest,” said Dr Panjit Basumatary.

Since inception, CWRC MVS has handled 54 cases of leopard rescues and 30 have been released back to the wild.