A nine-week-old leopard cub that got separated from its mother was safely reunited in a successful operation carried out in India, around 160km east of Mumbai.

On Tuesday evening, local farmers in Nagapur village, Maharashtra, stumbled upon a tiny leopard cub just as they were heading back home from the sugarcane fields, after a day of hard labour.

A growing population, expanding farmland and depleting forests have led to a manifold increase in man-leopard conflict in the area, so the farmers hurriedly contacted the Range Forest Officer, Prayjot Palve.

The Wildlife SOS team operating out of the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Center was alerted to this incident and a four-member team led by Wildlife SOS senior veterinarian, Dr. Ajay Deshmukh accompanied by a team of forest officers rushed to aid the helpless cub.

The cub was identified as a male of around nine weeks old. After a thorough medical examination by Dr. Ajay Deshmukh, the cub was found to be healthy and fit for release.

The team arranged for the cub to be reunited with his mother but initially received opposition from the scared villagers who insisted that the cub be taken away from the area for their own safety. However, they came around to the idea realising a stressed mother would pose a stronger threat, according to the filmers.