A Day after a wounded leopard was rescued from the Kandivli slums on Wednesday, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) officials said the female sub-adult was in severe psychological trauma and their main concern was to prevent it from “inflicting injury on self”. They have, meanwhile, nursed the deep wounds on its spinal column.

SNGP’s veterinarian Dr Vinaya Jangale said the animal needed urgent attention, but she first had to bring the leopard out of its mental distress. “The leopard is suddenly finding itself confined in a small cage. Such change in the immediate environment of a wild animal is very stressful. Our biggest concern is to prevent the animal from inflicting injury on self,” Jangale said.

According to the hospital staff, the leopard keeps banging itself against the bars of the cage. “Another obvious illustration of stress is that the animal was refusing to eat till Thursday. However, later it ate a whole chicken. This is a positive step toward convalescence,” Jangale said. She added that the hospital is trying to keep minimum contact with the leopard so as to not disturb it. “There is a deep wound in the leopard’s spinal column and its hind quarter is very weak due of which it keeps falling off on one side. While maggot infection can be treated, its body is riddled with ticks too,” Jangale said, adding, “This makes it difficult for us to even move the cat into a larger cage with the other animals because the ticks may spread.”

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