The palm civet which was rescued from a classroom at the Agonda government high school.
CANACONA
Two palm civets (Katandhor) sought refuge in a classroom at the Government High School (GHS) at Agonda after reportedly being chased by a leopard.
While the female palm civet was later rescued by a forest team from the classroom, the male managed to escape from the forest team.
On the last day of exams, students and teachers began to hear some unusual and unfamiliar sounds from one of the unused classrooms. Suspecting the presence of monkeys (usually seen in the vicinity) in the classroom, the school contacted the forest rescue team.
A forest team led RFO (Forest Territorial) Narayan Waigankar went to the site and noticed paw prints of a leopard and some other wild animals in the school surroundings. The school is surrounded by wild trees, while creepers have been growing on the school.
The team suspected a leopard may have been trapped inside the unused classroom.
However, an inspection revealed two palm civets (Katandhor) in the classroom and the forest team laid a cage to trap and rescue the palm civets.
During the 3-hour operation, the forest team succeeded in rescuing the female palm civet, while the male palm civet jumped out and escaped into the thick vegetation around the GHS compound.
