Palm civet finds ‘home’ at private college in Mathura

Agra: With the institutions shut and most people staying indoors owing to the

nationwide Covid-19 lockdown

, an Asian Palm Civet was found inside a

private college

in Mathura’s Farah.

When the housekeeping staff opened the college for routine cleaning on Tuesday, they found the animal roaming on the campus. The staff raised an alarm. The college authorities informed the NGO Wildlife SOS. A two-member team from the NGO arrived at the location and carried out the rescue operation.

After a 30-minute rescue operation, the civet, which had climbed atop the ceiling ledge, was safely moved into a transport box and later released to its natural habitat after a health check-up.

Co-founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS

Kartick Satyanarayan

said, “The lockdown has given wild animals the opportunity to tread beyond the comforts of their homes in forests. The restricted movement of vehicles has only made the roads more accessible for animals to navigate. Pollution has decreased,

public places

are deserted and reduced human movement has made it easy for them to roam more freely. This is a lesson for us to respect nature and its creatures.”

“The lockdown has kept us extremely busy. We are grateful to people for bringing such incidents to our knowledge. Wildlife SOS is trying its best to ensure no rescue call goes unanswered during this time. We need public support to continue our efforts and we invite food and grain donations,” director of Conservation Projects Wildlife SOS Baiju Raj MV said.

The Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) is a mongoose-like mammal which survives in a wide range of habitats. Often seen in urban environments, but they are shy and wary of humans. They are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.