A mother leopard gave birth to two cubs in a long-unoccupied ruined house in Palakkad, Kerala. The mother sensed human presence and ran away, leaving her babies alone on January 9, 2022.
Forest officials arrived at the scene and abducted the two cubs in an inhumane manner, using a cardboard box. This action violated the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 as well as the standard operating procedures issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
The residents were terrified when the mother leopard raided in the settlement to find the babies. According to the department, two days after the cubs were placed in a cage in an attempt to capture the mother leopard, the mother took away one of the pups while leaving the other in the cage. Residents and government representatives denied that such an incident occurred there. The locals were in danger of dying since the mother leopard regularly raided the area.
The Times of India reported on a meeting called by the district collector on January 21, 2022, with the headline, “Get nod to shoot leopard if need.”
After hearing the news, we filed a plea with the High Court to stop the mother leopard from being shot. The court ordered the wildlife department to refrain from shooting the mother leopard, and the proceedings for the cubs’ whereabouts and punishment of the kidnappers continued.
The lone cub along with the department died from neglect while the petition was proceeding, and the other cubs’ fates were unknown. The court accepted the department’s false explanation even though we had enough evidence of kidnapping. The government claims they removed it for the cubs’ safety since the public was acting agitating there and might have harmed them. However, they were unable to offer any proof—not even news articles or witness statements—to back up their untrue story.
The court heedlessly accepted the false narrative and determined that a ground situation justified removing the cubs in order to save their lives. No such circumstance occurred, and neither did anyone crowd or threaten the cubs. Panicked, the villagers stayed inside their homes. To appease the wildlife lobby, the single judge rejected the petition and all of our arguments were in vain.
Further, we have submitted an appeal against the judgment in WA 1311/2023.
