KAZIRANGA: A malnourished sub-adult leopard is biding its time at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) here. It is a six-month old male leopard cub (Panthera pardus) which was recently brought to the CWRC campus form the Sivasagar Divisional Office for treatment and care.Villagers of Amguri in Sivasagar district while trying to trap its mother with a live bait ended up trapping the cub instead. Villagers said the mother used to lift livestock from their areas. The forest department decided to trap and translocate it elsewhere. According to the villagers, the mother left the trapped cub for good as it had to fend another cub as well. The cub was initially nursed in the forest department campus. Once it started to gain weight and had spent about six months in captivity, it was difficult to handrear the cub. The Divisional Officer finally decided to send the cub to CWRC.

The animal was brought to CWRC on December 30. All these days the cub had been housed in an enclosure of 3 feet by 3 feet where it hardly had any space to move around. The dull coat colour and the lack of coordination of the hind limbs clearly suggested dietary deficiency and a long period of confinement in a restricted environment.

At CWRC, the leopard cub is being subjected to treatment and care. Since CWRC is not a lifetime care facility, the animal has no rehabilitation possibility and is being cared for mainly on welfare grounds. Its health has improved over the last three weeks and soon the forest department will be intimated about transferring it to a lifetime care facility. The Centre Manager has intimated the Sivasagar Divisional Forest Officer formally.

On January 5, villagers captured a trouble-making jungle cat (Felis chaus), which used to devour their poultry at Numoligor under Kumargaon police station under Bokakhat Wildlife Division. They contacted officials at Bokakhat who immediately sent forest guards to bring the animal to their headquarters. The cat suffered minor injuries on its face while it was being captured.

The forest department, in turn, contacted CWRC for treatment and possible release of the cat back to the jungle. The cat was chemically immobilised for close inspection for possible traumatic injuries. It was treated for the minor injuries and was considered fit to be released on January 7. The cat was released at Panbari Reserve Forest, a habitat similar to that found in Numoligor, only 5 km from the place of capture. This was done with the necessary consent of the forest department and in the presence of the assistant conservator of forests, Mr Aniruddha Dey.

On January 19, a python (Python morullus) was rescued by villagers from Borjuri, 2km from here. The villagers contacted CWRC for rehabilitation and release of the python. The CWRC rescue team brought it to the centre. On examination, the python was found to be fit for release. The next morning, it was released in Panbari Reserve Forest which is about 300 metres from the rescue site.