Last week, a farmer in Yadavwadi, India, went to turn on the water pump of his well when he noticed something strange. There was someone at the bottom, staring up at him with wide, helpless eyes — it was a leopard.
Thankfully, the farmer knew what to do — he alerted the local forestry department, which got in touch with the Wildlife SOS team that manages the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Center in Junnar, India. Then a rescue team from Wildlife SOS hurried to the farm.
After that, the rescue team lowered a trap cage with its door wide open, hoping the leopard would get into this as easily as she had leapt on the ladder. As luck would have it, she did.
“It was a bit surprising to see how quickly the leopard jumped into the trap cage,” Kartick Satyanarayan, cofounder and CEO of Wildlife SOS, told The Dodo. “In most cases, the animals are initially apprehensive of the unfamiliar metal cage, but as soon as they realize that it’s the only safe dry spot, they willingly jump in.”
After the leopard got into the cage, the rescuers shut the door and hauled her up to safety. Then the Wildlife SOS team took the leopard, who’s estimated to be 7 years old, to the rescue center for a medical exam.
This isn’t the first time a farmer has found a leopard at the bottom of a well. It happens quite often — in fact, Wildlife SOS rescued a second leopard from a well in India the very same week.
The second leopard rescued from a well within one week | Wildlife SOS