In a daring operation, villagers rescued an ailing leopard from an 80-metre-deep gorge in northern India.

The incident took place on Aug. 19 at Sahiya village in Uttarakhand's Dehradun city.

Visuals of the incident show villagers trying to pull the big cat from the gorge using a big rope.

The ailing feline can be seen shivering during the rescue operation.

Officials also tie its arms and legs with a rope, presumably to prevent it from attacking.

They then carry the leopard up the cliff and attend to it.

According to reports the 18-month-old cub was initially spotted on Chakrata Road near Sahiya village. On noticing that the animal was not in a stable condition, the villagers started following it as it moved towards a gorge to drink water.

After rescuing the cub, the villagers rushed it to a revenue police post.

Revenue police officials moved the animal to Kalsi Government Veterinary Hospital, where it is under observation.