The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Porcupine rescued from AC cooling plant

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 19, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Porcupine rescued from AC cooling plant

K. Manikandan

It strayed into Regional Plant Quarantine Station

CAUGHT UNAWARES: The porcupine that was trapped in the AC cooling plant of the Regional Plant Quarantine Station in Meenambakkam on Monday. — Photo : A. Muralitharan

TAMBARAM : A porcupine, which strayed into the Regional Plant Quarantine Station at suburban Meenambakkam, fell into a cooling plant of the station on Monday. However, it was rescued by Wildlife department personnel.

According to officials, Manimaran, an employee at the Quarantine Station, went to the air-conditioning cooling plant at 8.30 a.m. to switch it on, when he noticed the animal in the water.

He informed senior officials, who, in turn, passed on the information to officials of the Forest Department. The Department personnel came to the spot at 2 p.m. The staff got into the 10-foot-deep plant and waited patiently for half an hour before trapping the creature in an iron cage and moving it to the Children's Park at Guindy.

Employees at the station said they had noticed the creature a few times in the past couple of months while they were on night shift. There was no information on how the animal came to the station.

Motorists and passers-by on Grand Southern Trunk Road gathered near the cooling plant to have a glimpse of the animal.

Known as the Indian Crested Porcupine (Hystrix Indica), it is a nocturnal creature, the officials said.

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