GREEN MINUTE NEWS:
A male leopard was rescued from an open well in Sirsi taluk, Shivamogga district of Karnataka. This is an annual occurrence in the state as also the country where leopards and other species have fallen into open wells in rural areas near forest fringes.
Besides, Karnataka and Maharashtra, there have been incidents of leopard fall in open wells in other states of India also. Leopards usually fall into open wells when hunting for prey during the night time when they very active and do not notice such open wells in the darkness.
This incident occurred on Tuesday when a leopard fell into an open well in the house of Suresh Hegde at Kerekoppa village, Unchalli gram panchayat, Sirsi taluk, Shivamogga district. After the family informed the officials of the Sirsi Sub-division, forest officials including DCF, Sirsi Forest Division Sandip Suryawanshi, ACF S S Ningani, and others rushed to the spot. The owner of the open well was advised by the forest officials to keep it covered all the times to avoid such incidents.
The rescue operation took almost five hours. Sirsi RFO Girish Naik, DRFO Aishwarya Naik and other forest staff were involved in bringing out the six-year-old male leopard from the deep open well wherein the big cat was holed up in one corner of the brimming well. After medical examination and treatment by vets for any injuries sustained during the fall, the leopard was later released in the interiors of the Sirsi-Karwar forest boundary.
Till date, there has been no countrywide count of leopard falls in open wells. However, numerous leopard rescues from open wells occur every year across India. As per studies done by National Tiger Conservation Authority and studies done in 2024, there are only 13,874 leopards in India. Karnataka has the third highest population of leopards – about 1879 (after Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra) with a significant number living outside the protected areas.
INCIDENTS IN INDIA
According to data available, 184 leopards were rescued in Maharashtra’s Junnar division over five years (2020-2025). According to another study, Karnataka has witnessed 70 leopard falls into wells between 2008 and 2017. But the numbers of leopard fall maybe higher in view of organizations like Wildlife SOS working to address this threat by covering open wells.
Now what are the factors responsible for leopard fall in wells? The most common factors being: open wells that are either uncovered or some being abandoned. If they are working wells, to save money, farmers do not cover the open wells even if it is inside their farms. The depth of these open wells usually ranges from 40 feet to 80 feet depending on the landscape.
Nowadays, such incidents have become common as leopards are venturing into human habitat due to the loss of their own habitat. So, the onus of protecting these leopards falls on humans – by educating people living on the fringes of forests to cover their open wells and also close the abandoned wells in the vicinity.
Wildlife conservationists add there is need for proactive campaign among villages and local communities to make them aware of the dangers of keeping open wells and advise them to cover it to protect not just leopards but also other innocent wildlife species. With leopards losing their habitat, they have started venturing into human habitation both in rural and urban areas in search of prey especially stray dogs.