GUWAHATI, July 2 ? Wild animals straying into human habitation is something that has been happening with alarming frequency of late. So much so that the Assam State Zoo alone has made ?wild rescue? of as many as 84 animals and birds during a period of just three months from April 1 to June 30 this year. Of these, 29 were rescued in Guwahati itself. Last year also, the zoo recorded a total of 82 rescued animals and birds from different parts of the State, 69 of those occurring in the city.
Of the 84 animals, there are 32 mammals, 37 reptiles and 15 birds. The animals include tiger, leopard, elephant, deer, lesser cat, civet, monitor lizard, python, tortoise, etc., besides seven lions and a bear obtained from a circus. ?We look after the injured animals in the zoo while the fit ones are released in the jungle,? Narayan Mahanta, DFO, Assam State Zoo told The Assam Tribune.
The actual number of cases of animals straying into human settlements, mostly towns and cities, in the State would be much higher, given the fact that many a time the animals get killed by humans. Only last week a leopard was killed at Odalbakra area of the city, while another was caught at Maligaon. And besides, many of the rescued animals in places other than Guwahati are not sent to the zoo and released in the jungles straightaway.
While rapid shrinkage of habitat caused by human interference is the single most important factor behind this phenomenon among animals, the silver lining in this otherwise dismal scenario is that the rescued animals also indicate the growing awareness among the people about the need to protect the straying helpless denizens of the forest.
?Habitat loss, no doubt, is the main cause for the increasing presence of animals in towns and cities. But at the same time, the positive thing is that people are getting more conscious about the animals and their right to live, and are informing us about their presence and in many instances have even rescued the straying animals,? Mahanta said.
Mahanta said he was quite surprised by the enthusiasm on the part of the citizens to rescue animals in distress. ?We are getting a lot of calls from the people informing us about the presence of animals,? he said. Every now and then the newspapers also highlight incidents of conscious people saving wildlife like deer, pangolin, python, tortoise, monitor lizard, etc.
Guwahati, the gateway to the North-East, also shelters a wide range of wildlife in its 54,821.11 hectares of classified forest area including over a dozen reserve forests and a sanctuary. Many of these forests are well in the vicinity of the city. But the speedy expansion of the city in the last one decade or so has witnessed widespread encroachment on animal territory, which in turn, has worsened the already existing man-animal conflict. Incidents of leopards coming down to the heart of the city from the nearby hills have become a rather common occurrence these days. Then there has been this continuous depredation by elephants on the Army cantonment at Narangi. The cantonment that falls between two reserves, restricts the natural movement of the elephants and hence the elephants? behaviour is understandable.
?Animals, as a rule, try to avoid human beings as much as possible and it is only when they are left with no other options that they would dare to frequent human habitations,? Mahanta said. Last year of the 82 animals rescued, 27 died in the zoo while 17 were relocated in the wild and 38 are in the zoo. The break-up of the rescued animals was 32 mammals, 34 birds and 16 reptiles.