Usually, here’s what happens concerning the altercation between leopards and mankind, or as one would say, mankind and the wild cats The moment it is told that a cat is out on the prowl, this being no ordinary cat but a member of the wild cat family – the news is actually met with panicking heads and raised brows.
Things aren’t all too fine and immediately plunge into a state of panic, if one could say that. And that’s true for both- small villages as well as the urban centres. Alters are issued about the appearance of the big or wild prowling cat and young kids along with little children are told by one and all to be indoors.
Wandering out is tantamount to playing with fire in such a situation, is it not? And finally, unless and until someone from the forest ministry or let’s say associates looking into the wildlife of a certain region, area or state (or even district) do not capture the beast out on prowl, the air surrounding the place continues to remain engulfed in panic.
Peace is lost and there’s concern. But that’s not what is evident at this point in time.
And perhaps it only makes sense to note that in the case of what happened recently at the Indore Zoo, things were anything but that of panic. On the contrary, the general mood in the Indore zoo, pertaining to a missing leopard cub, were that of concern and general well being of the missing creature.
It was and still is, no wild prey or big hunting cat. It’s a small, innocent, missing leopard cub.
Rare are occasions where officials come together so kindly and lovingly to form teams to look into something like a missing leopard cub. Not because officials cannot forge pertinent rescue operations or lead critical search missions but because these instances don’t really happen all that often- do they?
But what really transpired at the Indore zoo in the last few years of this early period in December and who’s to be blamed, if at all, in the case of the missing leopard cub?
That being said, it becomes important to note the insights that Hindustan Times had to share on the matter:
The leopard cub was earlier found wandering in the forest area with injuries on its hind legs, after getting separated from its mother, and was brought to the zoo here for treatment from Burhanpur district, an official said.
“Forest staffers had kept the cub inside a cage installed in a vehicle parked on the zoo premises on Wednesday night and left after that. We had told the forest staff that we will not be able to shift the animal at night,” Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) run Kamla Nehru Zoo in-charge Uttam Yadav said.
On Thursday, when the zoo staff went to the cage to shift the cub, they found that the mesh of the cage had been broken and the animal was missing, Yadav said. According to officials, the forest department and IMC were investigating the matter, but no one has been held accountable as yet.
All of that being said, the only thing that can be said as of now is that one certainly hopes that the innocent little cub, the missing leopard cub gets back to its normal place and is finally found!