The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Wildlife officials rescue pangolin in Guindy

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Saturday, Oct 07, 2006
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Wildlife officials rescue pangolin in Guindy

Staff Reporter

"Rare to sight anteaters nowadays"

STRAYING INTO HUMAN TERRITORY: An anteater that was rescued from a house at Guindy on Friday. — PHOTO: S. THANTHONI

CHENNAI : Wildlife officials rescued a scaly anteater from a house in Guindy on Thursday.

The animal was rescued and kept in a cage in their office at Velachery. Wildlife authorities said following a complaint from a resident, a team went and rescued the pangolin.

V. Kalaiarasan, State Director, WWF — India, said pangolins were commonly found in the scrub jungles of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. They were docile animals and it would be difficult to sight them in the wild. With the shrinking of forest cover, the sighting of this scaly anteater had also become rare, he said.

Regular visitors to the Guindy National Park would have sighted the pangolin a decade ago. But, today it would be difficult to sight them even there, the authorities said. Similarly, if handled carelessly, the anteater could cause injuries, they added.

Snake eggs hatched

About a dozen rat snake eggs got hatched at the Wildlife Headquarters Office at Velachery on Thursday.

The wildlife officials said they brought the eggs from a house in Porur on September 14. The officials brought 20 eggs from the house to their office and of them, a dozen got hatched. Eight more eggs are yet to be hatched, they added.

The wildlife authorities said it was for the first time that the rat snake eggs got hatched at their office.

Last year also they brought some eggs, but none of them was hatched, the authorities added.

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