India: Leopard cub with head stuck in plastic jar rescued after two days

A leopard cub was found with its head stuck inside a plastic jar in a village in Badlapur on the outskirts of Mumbai. It took two days for forest department officials to finally trace it and extract it from the bottle on Tuesday evening.

The two-year-old leopard got its head stuck in the jar when it was trying to drink water, officials told the media on Wednesday. Local residents of the village heard of it on Sunday night and some of them recorded it on video as it struggled to release itself from the jar.

As the footage went viral on social media, officials of Mumbai’s national park and representatives of NGOs started looking for the animal.

After it was spotted, a tranquilised dart was used, which saw the leopard fall and emerge from the plastic can. Dehydrated and exhausted, it was treated immediately and then shifted to the national park in Borivali in north Mumbai.

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“The most difficult part was locating and zeroing down on the animal in this difficult terrain,” said Pawan Sharma, founder of the NGO, RAWW. “The leopard will be kept under observation for the next 24 to 48 hours before being released in the wild.”

According to Nilesh Bhange of the Progressive Animal Welfare Society, the villagers joined the forest officials in the two-day hunt for the animal. Activists pointed out that plastic bags are being dumped in forests, endangering wild animals and other creatures.

• India