‘Identity crisis’ after villagers kill wildcat

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Link:

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060731/asp/northeast/story_6544791.asp

 

`Identity crisis' after villagers kill wildcat

- Karimganj

OUR CORRESPONDENT

 

July 30: The conflict between man and animal for habitat has claimed

another precious member of the wildcat family, but forest officials

have yet to figure out to which species it belongs.

 

The animal, 1.5 metres long and 16 inches tall, was found buried at

Dhigirpar village, under Nilambazar block of this south Assam

district, on Wednesday. It transpired that residents used sticks and

spears to attack the animal because it was regularly transgressing

into the village.

 

" Three other wildcats of the same species escaped, " a villager said.

He claimed that several complaints to the police and forest

departments about " regular invasion by wild animals " elicited no

response, forcing the residents to act on their own.

 

Sources said the slain animal could be a leopard or a civet, both

protected species. Killing a member of either species is an

infringement on the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.

 

Deputy commissioner Anurag Goel and state wildlife warden Y.

Suryanarayan have called for a probe into the circumstances leading

to the attack on the wildcat.

 

The corpse was exhumed from the very spot where it had been buried.

A post-mortem was conducted at the Nilambazar police station by

government veterinary surgeons on Thursday, but the report had not

been submitted.

 

The civet is a slender nocturnal cat which inhabits the forests of

Longai and Patheria in Karimganj. It is an endangered species found

only in Asia and Africa. Wild animals enter human habitation

primarily because forests in this part of the world have been

ravaged by the timber mafia. The Patheria hills, on the Indo-

Bangladesh border, have been totally denuded, forcing the animals to

enter villages in search of food. Among the rare animals found in

the hills are slow loris, goral, leopard and civet.

 

Alarmed by the incident in Dhigirpar village, the People for Animals

has demanded that every one of those who attacked the animal be

arrested immediately. " The forest officials who abetted the incident

must be taken to task, too, " Sangeeta Goswami, chairperson of the

Northeast chapter of the NGO, said.