Mysuru: The Forest Department staff, who had rescued three leopard cubs from a pipe underneath a bridge at an under-construction private layout on separate days, have also captured the mother leopard, thus reuniting the cubs with their mother.

On Feb. 7 at about 9 pm, villagers, who noticed two leopard cubs inside the pipe at a private layout in Bhugathagalli village in the taluk, informed the same to the Forest Department. Members of the Leopard Task Force (LTF), who arrived at the spot, found two cubs in the pipe and rescued them. LTF members then convinced the villagers of conducting a search operation for the mother leopard by leaving the cubs at the same spot. On Feb. 9, another cub was rescued and the same time the LTF members continued their search for the mother by installing camera traps to know the movement of the mother leopard. A cage was also placed to trap the mother which walked into the cage in search of her cubs and got trapped yesterday morning.

The Forest personnel then took the mother and her cubs to a safe place and are working hard to reunite the cubs with their mother as a few animals reject their offsprings when they are touched by humans. In this backdrop, the cubs and their mother are placed separately but allowed to come face-to-face. If the mother identifies her cubs, she will show her affection by licking them, thus showing her acceptance.

Deputy Conservators of Forests (DCFs) Dr. I.B. Prabhu and Dr. K.N. Basavaraju led the rescue operations of the cubs and their mother.