A fretful leopard who fell down a well in the western Indian state of Gujarat has finally been winched to safety. The three-year-old animal was hauled onto a wooden frame by a team of eight wardens in the village of Aambaliya, despite struggling so much that it eventually had to be tranquilized.
Such incidents are unfortunately growing in frequency as shrinking natural habitats forces more big cats to venture into human territory, reports the Guardian. They approach settlements where they are tempted to prey on domestic livestock including dogs, pigs and goats.
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Leopards were once common across the Indian subcontinent but have been classified as ‘near threatened’ by International Union for Conservation of Nature since 2008. In May 2010, the Wildlife Protection Society of India estimated that at least 3,189 leopards were killed in the country since 1994.
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