Wells are necessary holes in the ground. They supply us water. That being said, they are still literally giant holes in the ground, and unknowing animals have been known to become trapped in their depths.
In America, this usually means cattle or other livestock, but in India, stranded animals tend to be a little more exotic.
According to Hindustan Times, 1,500 animals — leopards, jackals, civets, jungle cats, wolves, hyenas — have died after falling into and becoming trapped in wells over the past 10 years.
Luckily, a beautiful leopard that was found in a well in the Assam region of India did not suffer the same fate.
Authorities were dispatched to the well shortly after the jungle cat was found, and they did everything they could to safely recover the animal. As you can imagine, dealing with a wild animal and lethal predator is a little more involved than rescuing a domesticated cow or goat.
[H/T: The Telegraph]
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Locals found the distressed female leopard trapped in a dry well, where it’s predicted she had been trapped for hours before the animal experts were called in.
The event took place just outside the city of Guwahati, Assam, in northwestern India — not far from the Bangladesh-Bhutan borders.
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It’s thought the leopard was straying into a populated area in an attempt to look for a food source.
Needless to say, she was distressed when she fell into the well.
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The leopard’s mental state only made it harder on officials trying to rescue the animal. For this reason, all hands were on deck, including a vet, forest officials, and even some locals, too.
To safely remove the predator from the well, she was shot with a tranquilizer before anyone could climb down the well.
Using a ladder, the vet, Dr. Bijoy Gogoi, climbed down the 30-foot well with some rope in hand. He was determined to help get the leopard out.
He created a harness for the animal, fit it around her, and she was then pulled out by those above ground. The leopard appeared to be uninjured by the fall.
She was then brought to the Assam State Zoo, where she will hopefully be looked at before being sent back into the wild.
Incidents of leopard and human interaction have increased since people began encroaching on the leopard’s forest habitat in the region.