Bison on the loose since December rescued and released in its habitat

The bison was earlier seen roaming the streets of Pendhar village and eventually strayed into the farmlands adjacent to the chemical factories. Since it was a holiday, thankfully the streets were free of people. Otherwise, chaos would have ensued

NAVI MUMBAI: A four-year-old Indian male bison, unmistakable by its 1,000 kg mass, attracted much attention in Taloja’s MIDC area on Sunday. The bovine hid its nervousness under a menacing exterior, as it was in unfamiliar surroundings -- it had strayed from its herd in December and since then had roamed 100 km across the state in search of its family.

Bison on the loose since December rescued and released in its habitat

It took four hours, a handful of forest officials and members of an NGO’s smart execution to rescue the animal without the use of tranquilisers to release it to its habitat near Malshej Ghat.

“The bison was earlier seen roaming the streets of Pendhar village and eventually strayed into the farmlands adjacent to the chemical factories. Since it was a holiday, thankfully the streets were free of people. Otherwise, chaos would have ensued,” said Kiran Patil, a Taloja resident, who contacted the forest department.

Assistant forest conservator, Sanjay Waghmode, said the animal was earlier sighted at the foothills of Matheran, near Dodhani village, in Panvel, followed by Malangad, which is under the Dombivali forest range. “This bison seems to have travelled quite a distance,” said Waghmode.

It had veered into farmlands by noon, and forest officials’ efforts to rescue the animal from the farm was futile as it kept walking into a denser area. Officials from the department eventually contacted RESQ CT’s team to plan the next course of action.

A team comprising forest officials, which included range forest officer Dnyaneshwar Sonawane, deputy conservator of forests Ashish Thakre, members of RESQ CT and veterinarians, worked out the action plan to facilitate the safest way of capturing it. A container truck and JCB were deployed for the purpose – the first to carry the animal after the rescue, and the latter to build a ramp after digging the soil for it to walk into the container.

“Since the nearest forest area was almost four km away, driving the animal to the forest was not possible and involved putting residents at risk or the animal getting run over by a vehicle. Use of tranquilisers was out given the risk to its health and transporting it in a tranquilised state would have required a crane,” said the forest officer.

The road, where the animal was seen was cordoned off, keeping out villagers and motorists. The traffic department set up a perimeter of one kilometere so as to not startle it. Officials were posted on the farmland side of the road, leaving the animal no option but to walk towards the factory side. “By the time the operation started, it was nearing sunset; we would have had a major problem sighting it if it had strayed into the field,” said Tuhin Satarkar, director of RESQ CT.

“No sooner had the animal moved into the factory premises, a makeshift ramp was constructed to facilitate its entry into the truck. It was then transported to a safer habitat,” said Satarkar. “It had walked into the cordoned area by 6 pm. We maintained silence. Seeing the gate open the bison walked in and the forest officials immediately closed the gate.”