Gaur strays in marriage lawn, rescued and released in sanctuary

Nagpur: In an unusual capture, an adult Indian gaur was rescued from a marriage lawn near cantonment area on the outskirts of Kamptee, 17 from here.
The gaur is suspected to have strayed into the area either from Mansinghdeo Wildlife Sanctuary in Pench Tiger Reserve or Khapa forest range. It must have crossed Kanhan river.

On March 28 evening, a section of people was surprised to see the animal and they prima facie identified it as a wild buffalo and called up Seminary Hills range forest office.

A rescue team of forest guards and foresters including wildlife veterinarians Dr Syed Bilal Ali, Dr Ankush Dubey, Dr Subodh Nandgavli and Dr Teesta Joseph with the transit treatment centre rushed to the spot immediately.

“To rescue a bison weighing around 500-600 kg, which was absolutely normal, was a big challenge,” said deputy conservator of forest Prabhunath Shukla.

“Any decision to capture it live or just scaring it away would have risked lives of people had the gaur gone berserk. A motley crowd had already gathered at the spot to see the animal,” said district honorary wildlife warden Kundan Hate.

It was decided to tranquillize the animal but as it is listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, permission was required from chief wildlife warden.

State chief wildlife warden Nitin H Kakodkar issued permission to dart the animal, after which it was captured successfully. After examining it, the gaur was reunited with its natural habitat in one of the protected areas under Pench Tiger Reserve late night.

“It was a challenge to keep the animal in anaesthesia in the vehicle for over 45 minutes till it was released,” said wildlife vet Dr Ali from transit treatment centre.

Wildlife conservationist Prafulla Bhamburkar said, “There is an old record of gaurs coming till the army cantonment area from Mansinghdeo. The Nagpur gazetteer has a mention about a gaur shot over 100 years ago in cantonment area.”

Earlier, there have been occasions to rescue gaurs from canals which lacked underpasses, but a gaur grazing on a marriage lawn was something new experience for the foresters.