Maharashtra: Leopard spends 5 hours with head stuck in metal pot, rescued later

Dhule (Maharashtra): A male leopard had its head stuck in a metal pot for five hours in a village in Dhule district of Maharashtra.

The frightened big cat struggled unsuccessfully for five hours to wriggle out of trouble before forest officials tranquilised it and sawed the pot off its head, Range Forest Officer Savita Sonawane told ANI on Sunday.

"A male leopard spent five hours with its head stuck in a metal vessel in a village in Dhule district. It was later rescued by the Forest department," she said.

There are an estimated 13,874 leopards in India, up from 12,852 in 2018, according to the 'Status of Leopards in India, 2022' report, released by the Union Environment Ministry on February 29.

According to a report made public by the Environment Ministry, the count of leopards in the country rose by 8 per cent from 12,852 in 2018 to 13,874 in 2022.

While the highest number of leopards were reported in Madhya Pradesh (3,907), only three other states reported over 1,000 animals each--Maharashtra (1,985), Karnataka (1,879) and Tamil Nadu (1,070). While Uttarakhand reported a 22 per cent decline in the big cat numbers-- reportedly due to poaching and man-animal conflict, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal saw a collective 150 per cent rise to 349 animals.