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Wildbuzz: Don’t shed peacock tears!

ByVikram Jit Singh
Oct 27, 2024 08:02 AM IST

Then again, a retired professor of English and a nature lover to boot, was so flustered by the wails of a Jungle babbler pinned under the talons of a female Shikra in his garden that he chased off the luckless hunter, as if it were a monkey marauding his garden.

A retired biology teacher was once so moved by a pigeon’s plight that he “rescued” the bird from the talons of a “cruel hawk”. The act did no service to his wisdom or to the pursuit of “biology” through his career. One wonders what kind of “biology” he taught his students. Whatever may be that, his needless intervention invoked the “peacock tears” kind of a phoney, sanctimonious attitude that exposed ignorance and insensitivity to nature’s ways.

A wounded pigeon in the Sukhna jungles. (PHOTO: VIKRAM JIT SINGH)
A wounded pigeon in the Sukhna jungles. (PHOTO: VIKRAM JIT SINGH)

Then again, a retired professor of English and a nature lover to boot, was so flustered by the wails of a Jungle babbler pinned under the talons of a female Shikra in his garden that he chased off the luckless hunter, as if it were a monkey marauding his garden. Upon calming down, he later wrote poetically about the dilemma of saving the babbler and leaving the hawk hungry, when actually no ‘pickle in the mind’ should have been entertained to begin with!

The other day I was roving in the jungles behind the Sukhna Lake when a Shikra (hawk) swooped on a Common pigeon or Rock dove in front of me and damaged its wing with the piercing claw. The pigeon fell to the ground and took shelter in the grass. The Shikra could not complete the hunt. After some time, I went up to the pigeon and was moved by its condition and the innocent, helpless look in its eyes. The pigeon let me get very close and the eyes seemed to implore me to rescue the bird from certain death.

With a heavy heart, I turned my heels on the wounded bird. Nature had destined the wounded pigeon as an “easy game” or virtually a “freebie” for a natural predator. The Shikra had failed but the grasses and bush were known to harbour Rock pythons and Golden jackals, and I left the wretched pigeon to another pair of hungry, remorseless jaws. It was a hard decision, but it was respectful of nature’s ways, which are red in tooth and claw. Rather than I playing God, I left it to the ‘Gods of Nature’ to decide the pigeon’s fate in that hushed jungle.

When should we ensure rescue? Let us consider two VVIP examples.

The distressed peacock at the PM’s residence, New Delhi; and (right) the cobra rescued at night from Rashtrapati Bhawan. (PHOTOS: WILDLIFE SOS)
The distressed peacock at the PM’s residence, New Delhi; and (right) the cobra rescued at night from Rashtrapati Bhawan. (PHOTOS: WILDLIFE SOS)

A peacock with legs tied and its main feathers plucked out somehow escaped the clutches of its tormentors and made it to the Prime Minister’s residence in New Delhi. The security staff dialled the wildlife SOS emergency rescue helpline. The national bird was professionally rescued and treated by the wildlife SOS veterinarian with injections and medication and taken to the NGO’s transit facility for further treatment and rehabilitation.

Security personnel recently spotted a 4-foot Spectacled cobra on the premises of Rashtrapati Bhawan. The snake, spotted near Gate No. 30, was observed by the security repeatedly entering and exiting a one-way hole in the boundary wall. The alert staff refrained from intervening (or bashing it) and contacted the wildlife SOS. A trained rescuer was dispatched, who assessed the situation and patiently waited for the snake to emerge from the hole. After an hour-long wait, the cobra was carefully extracted and secured in a transport carrier for relocation in a more natural habitat.

vjswild2@gmail.com

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