Two jackals rescued: One injured by fishing nets, the other partially blind

By: Sanyukta Singh

MUMBAI: Jackals seem to be crawling out of the woodwork amid the city’s concrete

jungle

. Two jackals were rescued early Saturday morning—one in Andheri, the other in Bhandup. While one has severe injuries, the other has partial loss of vision. Both jackals were taken to the forest department in Thane and then to a clinic in

Bandra

. This is the third case of a jackal being rescued in the city in less than a week.


The first one was rescued from mangroves in Versova, Andheri (west) a little after midnight. An animal lover, Sanjeev Chopra, spotted the jackal limping helplessly.

Chopra alerted officials of Versova police Station and also got in touch with an NGO, Resqink Association for

Wildlife

Welfare. Ultimately, the rescue operation was carried out by volunteers of RAWW along with officials from the state forest department’s territorial wing.

The jackal has severe injuries and also has multiple fractures on the front leg. “It appears that the jackal’s leg was entangled in a fishing net dumped in the mangroves in Versova. The injuries could have been caused by its attempts to break free from the net,” said Pawan Sharma, president of RAWW.

The other jackal was also rescued from mangroves in Bhandup. “This jackal has some vision loss and was acutely dehydrated,” Sharma said.

Both were administered initial treatment at the Bandra clinic of Dr Rina Dev, a wildlife veterinarian. “The two jackals were pretty disoriented and were severely dehydrated,” Dr Dev told TOI . “They were administered IV [intravenous medicine] to stabilize them. An evaluation of their blood samples shows that both the jackals have a low haemoglobin level,” said Dr Dev.

She said jackals rescued in the past few months were found to have tick infection possibly caused by blood parasites. “Research shows that flies in mangrove patches, which are often used to dump waste, act as intermediate hosts to spread blood diseases in jackals,” said Dr Dev.

Jackals are often found in mangrove areas. Sharma rued that although Mumbai has a great urban wildlife, it lacks proper infrastructure to treat injured animals.