Local farmers say it is not uncommon to spot leopards in their sugar cane fields.
Night vision cameras captured the touching moment a mother leopard was reunited with her cubs after they had gotten lost in a sugar cane field.
The mother leopard could be seen sniffing around a box, inside which rescuers had placed her cubs, before tipping over the lid and spotting her babies.
She then spent a couple moments licking her babies tenderly before picking them up by the scruff of the neck and carrying them back into the forest.
According to authorities, local farmers spotted the one male and two female cubs hidden in a dense sugar cane field in Nashik, India, when they were only 20 days old.
"Initially the villagers were apprehensive and insisted that we take the cubs away from the area,” Forest Range Officer Sanjay Bhandari told SWNS.
With the help of Wildlife SOS Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre, authorities were able to make sure the cubs remained in a safe place that was easy for the mother to find.
“We try our best to reunite missing cubs with their mother to avoid instances of man-animal conflict,” rescuer Ajay Deshmukh said. “It is not uncommon to spot leopards in this area, as there are acres of sugar cane fields that provide a safe cover for the wild cats.”
