District Administration, led by EAC Tening, Tumben P Tsanglao and Namsibo, Forest Range Officer, Tening, facilitated the rescue and transfer of two leopard cubs from Tening village to Nagaland Zoological Park, Dimapur on Sunday the 21st August 2021.

The two leopard cubs were found on 20th August 2021 by a group of four boys, all of them aged around 11 to 12 years, namely Njancham, Kaisithui, Khouralung, and Wiramsiaged from Tening village, who narrated that they found the abandoned cubs in a hollowed tree near the stream adjacent to paddy fields of Tening village, when they went downstream for a bath.

They brought the cubs to the village after which a concerned resident of Tening village, Chamdinbo, a Govt. High School Teacher, Tening, informed the EAC for necessary assistance in handing over the cubs to concerned authorities. 

As reported by EAC Tening, the officials of Nagaland Zoological Park, Dimapur and DFO Peren initiated necessary protocols for immediate transfer of the cubs from Tening village to Nagaland Zoological Park, Dimapur for specialised care and protection of the cubs. 

The whereabouts of the mother of the cubs is still unknown. What remains to be seen is how the cubs were found not in the wild, but at a very close vicinity around the paddy fields of Tening village which only serves as a stark reminder of growing man-animal conflict, amidst the loss of habitats for the big cats.

It may be noted that the current IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List status of Indian Leopard is “*Vulnerable*”.

(Eto Kauring, IA Tening)