Leopards

The incredible efforts by these heroes have been instrumental in saving the lives of animals and birds on the verge of extinction.

Aaliya Mir, a resident of Srinagar, spends her days rescuing deadly vipers from Kashmiri homes, saving bear cubs and reuniting them with their mother and tracing leopard trails in the villages.

From his courtship of Cleopatra, the prettiest leopard in the forest, to challenging Scarface, the alpha leopard, this magnificent panther's story will leave you mesmerised.

For a while now, farmers in the Ranmala village of Pune district have been carefully observing the trend of leopards venturing into their villages. While they were troubled with the attacks on their cattle, pets and even fellow villagers, they understood that these predators would not enter human territory unless they were desperate.

Wildlife SOS has been actively involved in the rescue, protection and rehabilitation of big mammals such as sloth bears, leopards, elephants, rhesus macaques, deer and antelopes, as well as snakes and birds since 1995.

Shashank Dalvi is an ornithologist and Nikit Surve studies man-animal conflict.

Leopards in Maharashtra are increasingly falling prey to uncovered wells around forest areas. The buffer areas which mark the transition between forested regions and human habitation are dotted with uncovered wells which often prove to be fatal traps for the leopards and other species that slip and fall into them after dark.