PILIBHIT: The apathy of forest department has endangered the lives of five leopard cubs kept by the mother big cat in a small sugarcane field in village Nizampur under Seramau North police station of Pilibhit where a 25-year-old youth had been mauled by a leopard while harvesting sugarcane two days ago.
The cubs are too small to be able to walk properly. As per the chief conservator of forest (CCF) of Bareilly zone, Lalit Verma, the cubs are guessed to be aged below one month. Ironically, the safety of the infants has been put to stake by the inquisitive villagers who are lifting the cubs in their hand to see them closely. The cubs are feared to be killed by stray dogs and jackals.
