Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology, Choudhary Lal Singh today appreciated the team of officials of Department of Wildlife Protection, who rescued a Leopard Cat Cub at Ajas in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district.Stressing the need to generate mass awareness regarding various aspects of man-animal conflict directed the concerned authorities to devise a plan for sensitizing the people about different methodologies of animal attacks, besides suggesting protective measures for saving their lives. The Minister also said that such awareness campaigns should particularly be carried out in those areas where such incidents of animal attacks happen frequently. “Unless the people are not sensitized, the graph of man-animal conflict cannot be reduced,” Singh said.The Minister appreciated a team of Wildlife officials, led by Block Officer Muhammad Maqsood Rather, who rescued the Leopard Cat Cub, saying that it takes lot of guts to work with animals and tame them.
According to Wildlife officials, the cub was learnt to have separated from mother who in search of food might have come out of nearby forest to the village, where the cub lost the track. As soon as the team got to know about the same, it rushed to the spot and rescued the cub. The cub was fed with milk and provided with the warmth amid cold temperatures. A medical checkup was also conducted on the cub later freed in the nearby forest after tracing the footprints of its mother, who was also spotted.Meanwhile the locals have hailed the Minister for Forest and his entire team of official machinery for timely action in rescuing the Cub and making its reunion possible with his mother. Chief Wildlife Warden Jammu and Kashmir, Suresh Chugg said the Department will monitor the activities and health condition of the cub to ensure its proper well-being.