Saini New Delhi: Delhi will soon have three “rapid response” teams to rescue injured wild animals, including leopards and jackals, and those which inadvertently venture into human habitations, according to forest and wildlife department officials. Until now, the department took the help of experts from wildlife NGOs and the Delhi zoo to rescue stranded or injured wild animals. “These are coordinated exercises. When we receive any information about an injured or stranded wild animal, our officials go to the location and identify it. Thereafter, experts’ help is sought,” a senior forest department official said.
“We are trying to evolve as a department and take more responsibility. We are making efforts to acquire the special skills needed for handling wild animals such as jackals, nilgai and even snakes,” the official said. The department has been working to create three teams of five members each under the South, West and North forest divisions. These will be deployed to rescue mongoose, monkeys, snakes, jackals, nilgai, leopards among others.
Injured animals and spillover wildlife population will be rescued and treated at the wild animal rescue centre, which will come up at Rajokri near the Gurgaon border. ld animals suffer trauma when they inadvertently venture into human habitations, leading to man-animal conflicts. Such animals will also be kept at the rescue centre until they recover from the shock.
Ater recovery, the wild animals will be released into the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, another official said. The horticulture and animal units of the development department of the Delhi government will continue to take care of domesticated injured animals such as cows, dogs and cats, the official pointed out. The wild animal rescue centre at Rajokri will be the first such government facility in the national capital. It is likely to be ready by the end of the year, according to officials.
The centre, which will be spread over 1.23 acre of land, will also be used for treating birds, they said. Experts from outside will be hired to help officials during rescue operations till they are able to do everything by themselves.
“The objective is to strengthen in-house capacity and create teams with all necessary skills to address urgent cases on priority,” the official said. The department has started the process to recruit 11 wildlife guards who will be inducted into these teams after their training is over. Recently, the department also launched a revamped helpline 1800118600 to redress tree and animal-related complaints under one roof.
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