Palm civet enters classroom, rescued

New Delhi: An Asian Palm Civet made its way into a government school in South Delhi and entered a classroom, leaving students and teachers shocked. It was later rescued by a wildlife NGO.

A member of the teaching staff in Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya (SKV) in Pushp Vihar area was shocked to see a peculiar looking tail dangling from the ledge of a classroom and on further investigation, the animal was identified as a civet.

The school authorities then contacted the local police who diverted the distress call to the NGO, Wildlife SOS, which sent a three-member rescue team to the location. After a quick assessment of the situation, one of the rescuers climbed up a ladder to carefully extricate the rather unusual visitor.

A member of the rescue team said, “We had to be extremely careful while extricating the civet as we wanted to avoid startling it and causing further stress. The animal must have wandered out from a neighbouring forested area.” The Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), also called a toddy cat, is a small member of the family Viverridae, native to South and Southeast Asia. They can survive in a wide range of habitats and can be seen in urban environments, but quite rarely, as they tend to be shy and wary of humans. They are an omnivorous species that feed on fruits, berries, coffee beans, insects, and small mammals.

They are protected under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

“The plight of urban wildlife is frequently dismissed because city dwellers consider them to be a nuisance and they are often met with hostility. We are glad to see that people are becoming more sensitised towards the presence of wild animals, such as this civet cat, in the national capital region,” said Geeta Seshamani, co-founder of Wildlife SOS.

The civet cat was kept under observation and subsequently released in the Asola Wildlife Sanctuary.