Zoo officials rescue panther cub from villagers

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUPATI, JAN. 31. A bruised cub of a panther, which was beaten up black and blue by panic-stricken villagers, was on Wednesday rescued by the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park officials, assisted by police and forest officials.

The two-month-old cub was said to have strayed into Bandarlapalle, a forest fringe village situated around 14 km from here, skirting the Sri Vidyaniketan engineering college, run by film actor Mohan Babu, on the Tirupati-Madanapalle highway.

On seeing the cub sneaking into a hut, the panic-stricken villagers surrounded it and gave it a severe beating. As the first blow fell on its right fore-leg, the cub suffered a severe bone injury and tried to trace its path back into the forest, limping. But the villagers not knowing what they were doing in utter panic, beat the cub, resulting in its getting hurt badly and suffering a deep gash on its ear besides suffering a fractured foreleg.

Mr.Prasad of Biodiversity Conservation Society, a local NGO, on hearing the news, alerted the zoo officials and rushed to the spot. He tried to pacify the villagers, but to no avail. Later, speaking to The Hindu, Mr.Prasad said the villagers at one stage even threatened to beat him up if he did not allow them to kill the cub. He said, "The forest and zoo officials arrived at the right time, when I found myself in a position unable to guard the poor animal anymore, as the protests from the villagers was on the rise against my lone battle to save the cub".

The zoo authorities immediately shifted the semi-conscious cub into a cage and carted it away to the S.V. Zoological Park situated near the foot of the Tirumala hills immediately. After an antibiotic shot, the cub tried to rise, but found itself unable to stand up. Every time it rose, it fell on its face because of a suspected fracture on its foreleg. It was a pitiable sight to watch the animal trying to stand. The refugee was provided food, a few pieces of beef and meat and given first aid.

The zoo sources told this correspondent that the cub could have strayed into the village from the Nagapatla reserve forest, skirting the dense Tirumala forests. Mr.Parthasarathy, a senior official in the zoological park, said it was common psychology that a man on sighting a panther would assume that it was after him, but in reality, it would run away from people, or if it once targeted a human being, it would not stop till it killed him. He expressed concern that all panthers were being taken for man- eaters by people.

These Nagapatla forests could boast of fully-grown woods, thanks to the measures taken in recent times by the TTD's forest department. The number of panthers caught by the zoo in recent times is also steadily on the rise. An English daily reported yesterday that a TTD staff member, who was waiting for a bus, spotted a panther in the same forest area, and reportedly saved himself from the beast by jumping in front of an approaching bus. The report said when the bus honked its horn incessantly and the passengers clapped their hands and made loud noises, the panther got scared and beat a retreat into the forests. The zoo official said the same panther could be a parent of this cub and it was probably searching for its missing cub in the jungles off the road when the TTD staff member was waiting for the bus.

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