Wildlife officials in Surat, Gujarat, reunited three leopard cubs with their mother in footage captured on April 28.

The cubs had been separated from their parent after the mother had become lost.

Local villagers had spotted the tiny cubs in a ravine and alerted wildlife officials who rescued the trio.

Puneet Nayyar, the deputy conservator, said that they placed the cubs inside a basket and set up cameras to monitor the scene.

The cameras captured the moment the mother reunited with her babies.

Three leopard cubs that were separated from their mother for 13 hours got reunited in Patal village of Surat district in Gujarat India. The leopard, who accidentally got lost from her cubs, took almost two and half hours to ensure their safety before letting her guard down.

Villagers in western India had spotted two of the cubs in the ravine. He soon alerted other villagers and also called in the forest officials.

The cubs were rescued and examined. The officials also decided to reunite them with their mother and so they were taken to the spot in the evening. Luckily forest official heard some noise and found the third cub.

Puneet Nayyar Deputy conservator of the forest said We placed all three in a basket on top of a small cage, Forest teams also placed three trap cameras and one CCTV camera at the spot to capture the incident. The mother reached the spot around 8.30 pm but waited for nearly three hours before she took her cubs out from the basket. The department has developed an SOP for the safe reunion of cubs with mother.

The happy reunion saw the mother licking and cuddling the cubs.