Ailing and weak leopard abused by MP villagers | India News – Times of India

INDORE: A wild leopard — considerably weakened by illness — was on Tuesday turned into an object of ridicule by some villagers in Dewas, MP, who treated it like a pet dog and even tried to ride it. The shocking abuse of the male leopard, aged around 10, was caught on cameras and the footage went viral on Wednesday. The forest department rescued the animal near Kalisindh River.
The leopard wandered into Iklera village, around 50km from the district headquarters and 95km from Indore, on Tuesday evening. In the video footage, it looks disoriented and walks around slowly as a mob follows it, laughing and jeering. Some men in the crowd are heard asking others not to tease it, but it doesn’t stop. A few of them are heard saying, “Let’s take it to the village.” Others refuse and try to nudge it back into the jungle.
Several villagers took selfies with the animal and one even tried to hop on its back but better sense prevailed. Looking bewildered and exhausted, the leopard slowly walked back into the jungle. Some villagers alerted the forest department and police. Forest teams from Dewas and Ujjain teamed up to rescue the leopard on Tuesday night, Dewas forest SDO Santosh Shukla told TOI, adding that movement of leopards and other wild animals is not unusual near Kalisindh River that flows through a notified jungle.
“Veterinarians examined the leopard immediately. It appeared to lack energy. We shifted the big cat to Indore Zoo on Wednesday for further treatment,” Shukla said. Thankfully, there were no injuries on the leopard, he said.
Villagers said they did not hurt the animal and that they were trying to nudge it towards the forest when some people took selfies with the leopard. The animal has been kept under observation for 24 hours and medical tests are being carried out to determine what it’s ailing from, said Indore Zoo in charge Uttam Yadav.

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