Indian forestry officials say video shows leopard with neurological illness, not 'drunk'

"In the Taragarh village, a leopard consumed alcohol from the distillery and forgot its true fierce nature," reads the Hindi-language caption of a Facebook post shared here on September 4, 2023.

The caption goes on to read: "And what would have happened if it had remembered? Then the blame would have passed on to the authorities, on the employees!"

The 52-second video viewed over 1,000 times shows a leopard walking slowly in an open field with a group of people walking around and prodding it.

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on September 8, 2023

Conflicts between humans and animals are common in the Madhya Pradesh (MP) state. Local media report an average of 66 human deaths and 11,182 injuries were recorded each year between 2019 and 2022 in the state (archived link).

The video was shared alongside similar claims on Facebook here, here and on X, formerly known as Twitter, here.

However, the leopard was not intoxicated.

Neurologically sick

Narmada Prasad Sharma, a local deputy forest range officer, said the leopard was ill and primary symptoms observed during treatment were neurological.

"He is suffering from a mental illness due to which animals forget their original nature," he told AFP.

Uttam Yadav, the director of Indore Zoo where the leopard was being treated, said the wild cat's condition has improved.

"The leopard is in much better condition now but is still under supervision. We are hoping to release it back into the wild in a week," Yadav told AFP on September 12.

The incident was also covered by Indian media outlets, including the news agency Press Trust of India (PTI). It uploaded a video of the incident on August 30, which shows a similar scene of people manhandling the leopard (archived link).

A forest range officer can be heard in the video saying the leopard was reported to his department. Officials then rescued the leopard and a team from the Indore Zoo took the animal for treatment.

"The leopard looks very sick and his mental condition also does not seem good," he said.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the PTI video (right). Two persons wearing the same clothes can be seen as highlighted by AFP:

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Screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the PTI video (right).

Indian English-language outlet the Hindustan Times also reported on the incident on August 31, 2023 (archived link).

The headline of the report reads: "Villagers take selfies, attempt to ride a sick leopard in MP: Video."

According to the report, a leopard was spotted in critical condition on August 29, 2023, in Iklera village in western Madhya Pradesh.

The report went on to say the wild cat was rescued by forest officials and taken to a nearby zoo after the incident came to light.

The same video has been published by other media outlets here, here and here (archived links here, here and here).

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