Ailing leopard strays into MP village, locals click selfies, try to ride on him
animal rescued and hospitalised
Indore, Aug 30: Shocking videos of an ailing wild leopard being surrounded by a group of villagers, who are taking selfies with him and even trying to ride on him have emerged from Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh.
The incident occurred at Iklera village in Dewas on Tuesday, following which the forest department rescued the leopard. The animal, suspected to be suffering from some brain disorder, was admitted to a zoo in Indore city on Wednesday in a critical condition, and is battling for life, an official said.
The official expressed surprise over the male leopard neither attacking the group of people surrounding him nor roaring at them.
"The leopard was rescued on Tuesday from Iklera village, about 80 km from Indore," said Vikas Mahore, superintendent of the forest department's Kheoni sanctuary in Dewas.
He said that villagers will be warned not to go near any sick wild animal in future for their own safety.
In the videos that have surfaced on social media, a group of men, some of them holding sticks, are seen either sitting or standing near the leopard. Some of them try to click pictures with the spotted feline, while some others touch the animal who is not resisting their attempts. One video shows a man trying to ride on the animal when the latter is walking.
Talking to PTI, Dr Uttam Yadav, in-charge of Indore's Kamla Nehru Zoo, said the forest department rescued the male leopard, aged around 10 years, from a rural area in neighbouring Dewas district and admitted him to the hospital in the zoo.
"The seriously-ill leopard's body is stiffening and the animal is getting seizure attacks around every 20 minutes. Prima facie, the animal is suffering from some brain disorder," he said.
As per the advice of veterinarians, the treatment of the leopard has been initiated and the animal has been kept under 24-hour surveillance, Yadav said.
"This is for the first time we saw that despite being harassed by the villagers, the leopard neither roared at them nor resisted their attempts. This is very shocking because no matter how sick and weak big cats are, they never give up their in-built nature of resistance when they are in trouble," he added.
On the leopard being handled in an insensitive manner by the local resident in Dewas, he said, "This behaviour and audacity of the villagers is worrisome. Had the leopard attacked them, their lives could have been in danger."
VIDEO | Rescue operation underway by forest officials in Madhya Pradesh’s Iklera village after a leopard was found by locals in a dazed state. “A team from Ujjain is reaching to capture the leopard and the animal will be shifted based on the directions of the higher officials,”… pic.twitter.com/NHpS0f1Mx6
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
