A seven-year-old Leopard was found to be seriously injured on the Ahmednagar-Kalyan highway near Pimpri, on Monday. The animal has been hit by a speeding vehicle.
The locals alerted the forest department who then took the injured leopard for treatment with the help of Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre.
According to the wildlife SOS, they received a call saying that a leopard was lying on the road in an unresponsive state. "It was bleeding profusely and had deep wounds. Authorities feared that she was already dead. A team of five people from the NGO accompanied the forest department for the rescue operation," an official from Wildlife SOS said.
The forest officials reached on the site as soon as possible, while the officials managed the crowd, “Ajay Deshmukh, senior veterinarian, Wildlife SOS, sedated the leopard using tranquillising equipment after which it was taken to Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre for diagnosis and treatment", said an official.
Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS, revealed that this was the third Leopard injured in a road accident this year. "The first two leopards were paralysed owing to accidents. Our team is closely monitoring this leopard's condition."
Ghodke, Range Forest Officer, Otur, said, "Our investigation showed than an unidentified vehicle was speeding on the highway and it hit the leopard. There was a large mob that gathered by the time we embarked on the rescue mission, so controlling the crowd was our primary priority. We cordoned off the area to enable the Wildlife SOS team to tranquillise the animal before moving her to the rescue centre."
