A seven-year-old leopard, rescued as a cub from a tea estate in Assam and reared at the Centre of Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation, was sent to Nagaland Zoological Park today.
Senior veterinarian at CWRC, Anjan Talukdar said, "He was only a few months old, shy and weak when he was rescued from Doomdooma and brought here.
"Now, he is fully grown, strong, healthy and even a bit aggressive. He should hopefully do well in the new environment in Dimapur," he said.
Wildlife Trust of India Deputy Director Rathin Barman said, "When we get any animal at the CWRC, our first step is to look into rehabilitation back in the wild."
He said, however, rehabilitation was not an easy option for large carnivores considering the need for extensive space as they are territorial animals and also because the chances of conflict are very high.
"Particularly so if they have spent very little time in the wild before being brought under human care, as in the case of this cub," Barman said.
Nagaland Zoological Park Director Tongpangzemba Ao said, "We already have a leopardess and this leopard will be her mate soon."
The Assam Forest Department and International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) run CWRC had taken care of the leopard since 2006, when it was found at a tea estate in Doomdooma.
