Injured civet rescued from Noida, under treatment

Highly distressed and in pain, an injured palm civet – an extremely shy nocturnal mammal --was rescued on Monday from a residential area in Sector 41, Noida.

Highly distressed and in pain, an injured palm civet – an extremely shy nocturnal mammal --was rescued on Monday from a residential area in Sector 41, Noida.

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The animal was found hiding under a car bonnet on Monday afternoon. It had a fractured hind leg. According to rescuers from the animal organisation People for Animals (PFA), the civet had cuts on its chest that seemed to have healed under medical care, suggesting that the civet had been rescued earlier as well.

“We received a call from residents of Sector 41 that an animal was trying to crawl across the road and seemed in distress as it was crying. We searched late Sunday night but only found it hiding under the bonnet of a car the next day. It’s undergoing treatment, we got an x-ray done at a hospital in Sector 120,” said Kaveri Rana, president, PFA, Gautam Budh Nagar.

She added that they looked forward to its recovery and would then rehabilitate it in the Surajpur forest, which is one of the few protected forests in the district.

“We are in talks with the chief veterinary officer also, and he has assured us help in case it is required. We will also speak to the forest department for its safe rehabilitation,” Rana added.

The district forest department said that the city has several urban forest patches, which are suited for civets, while protected habitats like the Surajur wetlands are most apt.

“We have a good habitat to support a breeding population of civets in Gautam Budh Nagar, though their sighting is very low because of their nocturnal behaviour,” Pramod Kumar Srivastava, divisional forest officer, Gautam Budh Nagar, said.

According to the forest officer census, there were a total of 13 civets spotted in the district in 2019, while in the previous census held in 2011 their number was 12.

Protected under schedule-2 of part-1 of Wildlife Protection Act-1972, that makes it a punishable offence to hunt the species, civets are vulnerable species.

“The civets are arboreal species which means that they like the trees and often live inside holes. They are an excellent indicator species, which means that their presence shows that the habitat is healthy with enough prey. They often eat fruits but also live off eggs and insects, and occasionally also scavenge. There are myths and misconceptions associated with them, such as they dig graves,” said Kartick Satyanarayanan, co-founder of wildlife welfare organisation Wildlife SOS.