Thursday, April 14, 2016

A-Z Blog Challenge: L is for Leopard

The leopard is one of the most beautiful of the big cats and I recently watched a documentary where they were studying the way in which leopards and people co-exist in India. Although there is occasional conflict for the most part people accept that at night leopards are in their villages and on the outskirts of the cities and apart from taking sensible precautions - like having their children sleep between both parents if they sleep outside (common practice due to the heat) and keeping dogs as an early warning sign to alert them if a leopard gets too close - they are happy to live and let live. They also believe that leopards do a service in preying on the stray dogs which are found scavenging everywhere.

This video shows how far some villagers will go to help a leopard in trouble. A young leopard found itself trapped in a deep well and together with wildlife officers and a lot of ingenuity the villagers managed to free it. Touching, isn't it.

7 comments:

Susanne Matthews said...

Great post. Thanks for sharing. That video was incredible. https://mhsusannematthews.wordpress.com/

Jo said...

Coincidence, watched a documentary last night about Indian Lions and the same situation applies. The villagers don't really mind if their cattle occasionally get killed, but they work with the lions to prevent the deer, etc. from rooting up their planted fields. Fascinating seeing a lion eating it's pray not 10 ft away from the villagers.

JO ON FOOD, LIFE AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

Jo said...

Oh, and there was a lion which had also fallen down a well.

Helen V. said...

Thanks for dropping by, Susanne Mathews. I'm finding so many interesting blogs through this challenge.

Helen V. said...

I think I saw the last part of the same lion doco, Jo. The live and let live attitude was admirable especially when, instead of euthanising a lioness which had accidentally killed someone while protecting her cubs, they released them all in another area. Missed the bit about the trapped lion, though, if it was the same documentary.

Jo said...

They didn't show the lion down the well but at the Lion Sanctuary where they take injured or sick lions as well as the one who accidentally killed a human, they mentioned that one of the lions they had there had fallen down a well.

Helen V. said...

After your comment, Jo, I googled 'Indian lion rescued from well' and found a YouTube video about it. Not the whole process like it was with the leopard - they didn't show how they got ropes around it - but still fascinating.