Sickly civet rescued from JU premises amid allegations of university activities disrupting wildlife habitat
A video of the nocturnal animal walking around the campus surfaced on social media recently. This sparked various comments and allegations of various development activities of the university administration destroying wildlife habitat
A stray and sickly Indian civet, also known as "gandhagakul", which was found wandering around the Jahangirnagar University (JU) premises since yesterday, has finally been rescued.
The animal was picked up from the university's Mir Mosharraf Hossain Hall around 6pm today (1 July) and taken to the Wildlife Rescue Centre located in Savar, near the university.
Syeda Anannya Faria, general secretary (JU) of Deep Ecology and Snake Conservation Foundation, who was present at the scene, told TBS, "I got here after being informed on the hotline. Now, with the help of teachers, the civet has been taken to the rescue centre."
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She also mentioned that the civet appeared to be sickly and salivating when they found it.
Professor Dr Kamrul Hasan of JU's zoology department, who led the rescue operation, said he believes this large Indian civet has rabies or has contracted a similar virus.
He told TBS that civets are shy and secretive, nocturnal and harmless and rarely ever seen around humans.
"Although there is no guarantee of survival after contracting rabies, let's see what happens," said the professor.
A video of the nocturnal animal walking around the campus surfaced on social media recently. This sparked various comments and allegations of various development activities of the university administration destroying the habitat of wildlife.
Commenting on this issue, Professor Dr Kamrul Hasan said if there is urbanisation, there is some impact on the environment.
"But in the case of this animal, what is being said lacks proper information. Even if its habitat had been destroyed, this animal would not show up in front of people. It can only be spotted like this because the civet is ill."
Syeda Anannya Faria echoed that there is no denying that habitats of various animals living in the university area are being destroyed due to various development activities.
"However, the reason for this animal wandering around is different. We do want humans and animals to continue coexisting around the university as always. But in this case, we will appeal to the administration to undertake development activities in the university keeping in mind all aspects through a master plan. Doing so, we will be better off as well as the environment, nature and animals."
