The clouded leopard cubs

Kokrajhar, July 26: Two rare clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) cubs being hand-raised by International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) at its Mobile Veterinary Services Centre at Choraikhola in Kokrajhar are set to be released in the wild at Kachugaon forest.

The forest department said the release site has been chosen in the Sanfang range under Kachugaon forest division in Kokrajhar and it is likely to be carried out by the end of this month.

At the release site, the cubs will be allowed to get acclimatised with the wild under the care of the forest officials. They will be relieved of human care only after they are deemed fit for independent survival.

“We evaluated several potential release sites on relevant criteria like prey availability, level of human disturbance, vegetation, connectivity with other forests and so on. We found Sanfang range under Kachugaon forest division the most suitable to release these cubs,” said Bhaskar Choudhury, a veterinarian of the wildlife body, who was in the team that carried out the assessment.

The cubs, both males, will undergo a prolonged period of on-site acclimatisation before they are set free into the wild.

Panjit Basumatary, a veterinarian of the Mobile Veterinary Services Centre, said, “The cubs have gained considerable amount of weight since they were first brought in. They are healthy and active, and have weaned off milk diet. They now consume about 250gm meat per day and are also being provided nutritional supplements.”

The cubs were confiscated from a resident of Khanthalmari village under Runikhata range forest in Chirang district by a team of forest department officials in March and since then have been looked after by the doctors at the Mobile Veterinary Services Centre.

One of the rarest wild cats, which lives in the trees, the clouded leopard is nocturnal and extremely shy. Classified as vulnerable by the IUCN, these cats are found largely in the semi-evergreen and rain forests of the Northeast. Indian law accord clouded leopards as the highest level of protection and they are listed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, mandating permissions from the state as well as the central government for such rehabilitation and release.

Found in the Himalayan foothills in India and Nepal, the distribution range of the clouded leopard extends into Southeast Asia. Persecuted for their skin, bones used in medicines, pet trade as well as meat, fewer than 10,000 mature clouded leopards survive in the wild, according to the IUCN estimates.