Leopard plays with people | Leopard in Kullu | Tirthan valley | Selfie with leopard | Attack
By: Videos of a sub-adult leopard cub playing with people of Tirthan valley of Banjar in Himachal’s Kullu district went viral on Thursday.
The residents of many villages of Tirthan valley jammed the road and most of them came out of the vehicles without fear of attack by big cat notorious for its speed and killing instinct. They started touching it similar to a domestic animal. The sub-adult leopard started climbing on some people and even started chewing clothes. Some people were running away from him out of fear while others did not take it seriously. All this continued for over one hour.
At first, a person Ashu Sharma, posted three videos on his facebook wall when he first sighted the leopard roaming freely on the road. The leopard came close to his car and then went away. He again came close to the car. Then another car stopped at a distance and leopard went close to it. He continued walking around both the cars for a long time. Many other vehicles came there but he didn’t run into the forest but went close to the vehicles. Later people started taking its photos and videos. As nobody felt threat from the young leopard, the started coming out of the cars. This resulted in a dozens of people roaming around the leopard. Some youth started following him to make his video with mobile phone.
According to experts, the leopard may have come from nearly Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) as animals have descended down to lower areas due to snowfall on higher regions. GHNP is home to leopards, snow leopards, bears hundreds of species of flora and fauna.
A prominent forester Bhupinder Singh Rana said, “It was a sub-adult common leopard cub of about 8 to 9 months old. This is a crucial time for the cub as it will be separated from the mother after a few months. Its behaviour is totally different like a semi-wild or domesticated animal. Given the behave of the animal, as seen in videos, separating from mother at this stage can be dangerous as either it will be killed or can prove dangerous for others. It is not capable of hunting other animals. As this animal is born to attack, it can attack anybody, especially children, out of the habit. The animal is in need of help.”