An alert citizen driving through Aarey milk colony on Wednesday morning helped rescue a rare and elusive Asian palm civet, which seemed to have been injured while crossing the road.
"We got a phone call on our rescue helpline from Prakash Kotian who alerted us about a cat with a face like mongoose having escaped an accident at around 7am. He told us that he saw it getting down into the bushes; so we rushed to the site and managed to find it after a long search. We realised that it was an asian palm civet, which is extremely elusive," informed Honorary Wildlife Warden of Mumbai City Sunish Subramanian who heads PAWS-Mumbai adding that the civet looked traumatised and dehydrated.
"Rescuing it was not an easy task. Whenever we went close, it would charge at us. After a few failed attempts, we used hand gloves and managed to rescue it. There seemed to be a wound in its tail, so we rushed it to veterinarian Dr Rahul Meshram who treated its wounds. Since then the civet is back to its playful self and has been feeding and drinking water properly," said Tanmay Kolte a rescue team member.
Subramanian said that they have informed the Thane forest department (territorial) and the civet will be released as per the advice of the vet and in consultation with the forest department.
As per wildlife experts who have been monitoring and camera-trapping leopards inside Aarey colony, it was only four times in two years of intensive camera-trapping that they spotted an Asian palm civet. Its an elusive, swift-footed mammal, extremely wary of humans. This small mammal is protected under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
