A humble family living among the local communities that neighbor Murchison Falls National Park in the Masindi district have rescued a leopard cub left behind by its mother and is now being fostered for its survival.
According to Uganda Wildlife Authority spokesman Bashir Hangi, the cub was picked up by the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s Problem Animal Rescue Team from the home of Mr. Amon Busati of Kyarukunya village, Kimuru sub county in the Masindi District. The cub was taken to the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre (UWEC) in Entebbe for rehabilitation.
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Amon Busati said that they got to know of the existence of the cub after a wildfire caught up the Papyrus Swamp that borders his home. “I heard a deep sound of an animal running away from the fire and shortly saw a young cub lying down and crying next to the burning shrub. It is then that I picked it up and brought it home, and my wife started feeding it with cow milk,” he said.
For more than three days, Mrs. Jovia Busati and her family cared for the vulnerable cub and fed it cow milk. On learning about the cub, the Uganda Wildlife Authority immediately dispatched a Problem Animal Rescue Team that picked up the cub and took it to the UWEC.
She said that the Masindi community has been living in harmony with the mother leopard for a long time. “We have seen this leopard for over 10 years around our home, but it is a very peaceful leopard that has never eaten our goats or calves,” she narrated.
The action of the Busati family comes at a time when Uganda is preparing to celebrate World Wildlife Day on March 3, 2019 under the theme of Harmonious Living Between Wildlife and People.