MARGAO: A rescue team of Margao Forest Department on Wednesday night rescued an adult leopard that had fallen in the open well at Goenche Bhatt, Velim.
As informed by Prakash Naik, Range Forest Officer, Margao the leopard was later released back to the wildlife area.
The RFO office received a call on Wednesday night around 9 pm informing about the incident, and hence the mobile squad rushed to the site. The team members include forest guard Samarth Naik, Guruprasad Virdikar, Sajjan Naik, Navjeevan Naik, Sajan Juvekar, Janu, Joquim Ferandes, Satyawan Malekar and Bagwan Redkar, after a hard fought managed to safely rescue the leopard from the well. The rescue operation was concluded at around 2 am by the release of the leopard back to the wildlife area.
Speaking to Herald, RFO Prakash Naik also informed that there is movement of leopards in Cuncolim, Paroda, Loutolim, Verna and few other places. People from the said locations keep on complaining about the sighting of leopards on a regular basis.
Reportedly, a few days back an adult leopard was found dead on the railway track at Padi, Quepem, and it was suspected that he was hit by a moving train. Reacting to the incident many environmentalists had expressed shock and stated that such type of incidents will exterminate all the wildlife of the sanctuary due to disturbance in the wildlife sanctuaries.
Reacting to the same, Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane appreciated the efforts of the RFO and the team for their outstanding job in rescuing a leopard who had fallen into a well.
