The injured snow leopard cub, which was incidentally captured by wildlife staff in a border village in cold desert of Spiti in Himachal Pradesh earlier this month and was housed in Kufri near Shimla, may reunite with its mother in the jungle very soon.

Having got recovered at the quarantine centre in Himalaya Nature Park Kufri, the snow leopard cub (six to eight months old) is now being taken back to the natural habitat in tribal belt Spiti, as the wildlife team has probably sighted the ‘mother’ leopard in camera traps in the same area.

“We tried to locate the mother through camera traps as the cub is very small. We have got some evidence that there is a female leopard in the area. It could be the cub’s mother. We will keep the snow leopard in the cage there and the wildlife team will monitor the relationship behaviour of the female. If it is the mother, it will certainly come closer and lick the cage,” Dr Savita, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wild Life) and Chief Wild Life Warden, Himachal Pradesh, told The Statesman.

She said the cub would be released back in the natural habitat as per Himachal Pradesh rescue and release guidelines for wild animals. “It is a complicated issue. If the re-union of cub and mother takes place, we have to go by set protocol. We will also have to study the prey status in the area otherwise,” Dr Savita held.  (The snow leopard cubs usually move around with the mother till 18 months of age)

The snow leopard cub was trapped from Gue village on the Indo-Tibetan border in Spiti incidentally when there were complaints of the repeated killing of animals in a sheep pen a fortnight ago.

The villagers had told the local forest staff that in just four days, 43 sheep and goats were killed by a wild animal. When the wildlife staff positioned a cage in the pen, the cub, which may have got separated from the mother, was trapped.

The cub was brought to Kufri, the nearest available rescue centre (involving a distance of over 350 kilometres) by road amid Covid-19 curfew in the state.

“The animal was kept in Kufri quarantine centre as per norms. When it was bought, the animal was in stress, dehydrated condition, very weak and had an injury,” said senior veterinarian and Assistant Director, Wild Life, Dr Sandeep Rattan. Dr Rattan and Dr Rohit Sharma took care of the cub at the centre.

Snow leopards are found in upper Spiti area, parts of Chamba, Kinnaur and in Lahaul in Himachal Pradesh.

The population estimation of snow leopards in the state is being done under a programme of Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) in association with state wildlife wing. Over 40 snow leopards have already been traced in different parts of HP and the total population is anticipated to be around 100 in the state- which will finally become clear after the estimation is complete.

The survival of this rare and elusive species is challenged by poaching and loss of habitat.