Archive for January, 2024


Kind rescuers save two snakes

Filed Under: wildlife rehabilitation, wildlife rescue by sharonstjoan — Leave a comment
January 24, 2024

C.K. Palya is a pleasant, residential area in Bangalore. There are green trees there and peaceful streets. It is quite near the Bannerghatta Forest, where the WRRC, who rescue and care for thousands of injured wild creatures, is located.

On November 21, 2022, two kind rescuers came across a snake trapped in a glue trap, near a house. Without hesitating, they immediately brought the snake to the WRRC for treatment. Glue traps are cruel devices used to catch rodents. They are filled with glue, and the animals – rodents, snakes, birds, even insects and moths – become stuck inside.

At the WRRC, Dr. Roopa and her team immediately went to work, starting the long process of freeing the trapped snake. The young snake weighed 710 grams (one and a half pounds). With extreme care, they used coconut oil, wrapping it around the body of the snake, and gently removing the snake from the trap. Then they wiped the snake with coconut oil to clean the entire head and body of the snake and to ever so gently remove the remaining glue from her skin.

Glue can block the nostrils as well as the mouth, affecting breathing and eating. So very carefully and gently, using a Q-tip soaked in lubricating oil like coconut oil, the nostrils and mouth were made free from glue. Now the snake would be able to breathe easily, eat, and live normally.

Saving a snake’s life

All this had to be done very carefully and gently both so as not to hurt the animal – and also to not risk being bitten by the venomous snake. Russell’s vipers account for almost half of the deadly snakebites in India every year.

After the first steps, still not quite finished cleaning the snake, they had to lubricate the whole snake with coconut oil to make sure that there were no remaining traces of glue.

She was also rehydrated, given a painkiller injection, a B complex injection, and left to recover in a vivarium coated with coconut oil, which was her housing. Such cases recover depending on how long the animal was struggling after getting trapped.

The following day, when they looked to see how she was doing, she had recovered fast and was hissing and striking the typical threat pose. They were very pleased that she was so active and recovering well.

She was kept for a week for all the residual glue to come off. Ironically, the cruel glue traps not only harm and kill rodents, but they also trap snakes who are the natural predators of rodents. Sometimes leaving nature alone is simpler.

Another snake too

Not long after, on November 22, 2022, another young Russell’s viper was rescued near Nagarbhavi. Nagarbhavi, also in the city of Bangaluru, is a pleasant residential area, of many gated communities, with abundant green spaces. In the Kannada language, Nagabhavi means “a well of snakes.” The snake weighed 890 grams (two pounds).

Vipers are venomous snakes that have fangs attached to movable parts of the jaw that are usually folded back in the mouth. (In the U.S., rattlesnakes are vipers.)

This snake was discovered inside a house. Unfortunately, the people called unlicensed snake rescuers who used tongs to hold and restrain the snake. The tongs are a heavy-handed option that puts too much crushing pressure on the snake, especially around the spine.

The tongs did cause a wound on the spine, but luckily didn’t dislocate or fracture the spinal vertebrae (bone). The snake was given painkillers and rehydrating fluids and left in a snake box for observation and rest.

She seemed to be looking brighter, and after a week, the wound had started healing. Soon, she looked active and nearly ready to be released.

In the first week of December, in the presence of forest officials, the two snakes were released in separate locations close to their original homes, near where their rescuers had found them.

Freedom back in the wild

There they can finish growing into adults and live their lives in freedom, happy in the sun and the rain. They can expect to live around 15 years, enjoying open spaces and at peace among the trees.

All wild creatures are beautiful beings — important both as individuals with sentient lives and also as part of a species that plays a unique role in the eco-system.

Photo: Russell’s Viper / Jayendra Chiplunkar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. This photo is of another Russell’s viper, not those in the story.

© Copyright, Forest Voices of India, 2024

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An Indian peafowl with a big problem

Filed Under: forests, wild birds, wildlife rehabilitation, wildlife rescue by sharonstjoan — Leave a comment
January 16, 2024

Nice Road is a busy thoroughfare that runs through the heart of Bangaluru, a bustling city in south India. It is definitely not a safe spot for a peafowl to be crossing the road.

Maybe there had been a lull in the traffic, and maybe it had seemed to the bird that there was a large open spot, safe enough to cross. Or maybe he had hit a car windshield instead.

In whatever way the accident happened, sadly, the adult male peafowl was very severely injured. Kind rescuers, at a lot of risk to themselves, picked him up and rushed him to the nearby WRRC (Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre). He was in a bad state, and they hoped to save his life.

When he was brought in, he had a severe head injury and was still bleeding. One of his wings was broken too.

Quick action and another hazard too – stress.

Dr. Roopa Satish, the WRRC veterinarian and licensed wildlife rehabilitator acted quickly to stabilize his condition. The fractured wing bone was set and the head wound was attended to. She gave him antibiotics, pain killer injections, and fluids.

One of the additional hazards with any wild bird in captivity is stress. The bird is not only suffering from injuries just like any patient, but on top of that, any wild bird that suddenly finds himself in captivity will suffer extreme stress. In the wild, a bird is never caught unless it is by a predator – and that experience is life-threatening and terrifying.

A peafowl is big, but they are just as terrified as any other bird – and the stress may be as dangerous as the wounds themselves.

Capture myopathy may be experienced by wild birds on being handled. This condition often leads to immense stress which can cause cardiac failure and death.

Dr. Roopa and the caregivers were all too aware of the perilous situation of the bird. She wrote to us, “We were keeping our fingers crossed for the life of this brave bird.”

After treating him, the caregivers moved him into a spacious posttreatment area where he was kept calm, quiet, and warm. They left him to rest and took great care not to disturb him.

For the next three days, they did have to handle him to give him injections and the necessary fluids. From the fourth day though, he was able to move about on his own and feed himself, which was much less stressful for him.

Recovery

Some time later though, the peafowl apparently had come to the conclusion that the wing bandage wasn’t such a good idea – so he pulled it off, and the wing had to be rebandaged all over again.

However, with that hurdle behind him, everything began to go more smoothly. The new bandage stayed on. Over the next three weeks, the fractured bone healed well. When the bandage was finally removed, he was able to fly again, and his flight gradually improved. His overall condition was much better too, and he was soon looking almost as good as new.

When he was ready, they applied for and received from the Forest Department, the permission necessary to release him back to the wild. He had recovered beautifully.

Back to the wild

The WRRC centre is located right in the Bannerghatta Forest – which covers an area of 100 square miles (260 square kilometers). It is filled with natural plants, big trees, and abundant wildlife – elephants too.

So, at the WRRC, in the forest itself, Dr. Roopa and her team released the peafowl and watched him as he walked among the trees to take up his life anew. Much wiser now and with a very spacious forest to roam in, he can expect to find a mate and look forward to many years of living a free life in the wild forest. Peafowl may often live 25 years in the forest.

India’s excellent wildlife laws are very successful in affording protection to wild birds and other wildlife, so the wildlife in India are abundant – which is good. However, traffic can be a problem. It is hoped that, as time goes by, wildlife will also be assured of vast protected areas in which they can thrive in peace, far from dangers posed by busy roads. They need good spaces of wilderness, away from the dangers of the city, in which to live.

Many congratulations to Dr. Roopa and her team at the WRRC for all their amazing, life-restoring work – and for giving this brave bird a future filled with the immense joy of life in the wild.

By Sharon St Joan

Photos:
Photo: Creator: Jatin Sindhu / jatinsindhu / 500px Credit: Jatin Sindhu / 500px

© Copyright, Forest Voices of India, 2024

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A Bonnet Macaque rushed to safety

Filed Under: wildlife, wildlife rescue by sharonstjoan — Leave a comment
January 1, 2024

Last summer, some very kind rescuers found an injured adult female macaque. They picked her up and rushed her to the nearby Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, which is in the state of Karnataka, in south India.

At the Centre, Dr. Roopa examined her. She arrived in very serious condition. Weighing twelve and a half pounds, she was covered in dog bites, especially around her neck and her fight forelimb. The forelimb seemed to be shattered.

Responding to the emergency, Dr. Roopa and her assistants swung into action to stabilize her. They first stopped the bleeding and then performed successful surgery, under anesthesia, on all her wounds.

After the surgery, she was placed in a clean cage, in a quiet area for healing. She was left to recover and care was taken not to disturb her.

Fortunately, there were no disruptions in the healing process. She recovered without attempting to remove or pull off her bandage – which is often a danger with monkeys, who are intelligent and have their own thoughts about the lack of usefulness of bandages.

In the following 15 days, she recovered well and uneventfully. Three months later she had regrown all the missing fur that had been shaved for surgery, and she was ready to be released, to return to her family, in the area where she had been found. Government permissions were obtained to release her.

She was transported back to the area where her family lives near the Bannerghatta Circle. With the information provided by her original rescuers, she was taken back to the exact area where she had been found.

Thanks to the kind, swift action by her rescuers and the expertise of Dr. Roopa, she was able to return to her family and resume her life in the wild.

There are around twenty species of macaques, a kind of old-world monkey, living in Asia. Bonnet macaques are common in south India.

The Bannergatta Circle , in Karnataka is a very fascinating site in itself, long inhabited by human beings for many thousands of years, going back into neolithic and paleolithic times. There are many megalithic ruins there, including ancient labyrinths made by early humans.

© Copyright, Forest Voices of India, 2024

Photo: The photo is of a different Bonnet Macaque.

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