Jackal rescued from Well at Junnar

Using all the possible tricks in their bag, forest department with help of Wildlife SOS team from the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Center managed to rescue a two year old jackal fallen inside a 40 feet deep well in Junnar district on Sunday.

It was on Sunday evening around 4pm that farmer Anil Salunke of Vadaj village located around five kilometers away from the Shivneri Fort reached outside his well to switch on the pump but soon realised that a jackal was trapped. Worried about the safety of the animal, he immediately alerted the Forest Department.

While initially the local forest department staff tried rescuing it by lowering a plastic basket and even managing to get the jackal inside, little way up the scared jackal ended up jumping back inside the well.

It was around 5.20pm that the three member rescue team led by Wildlife SOS veterinarian Dr. Ajay Deshmukh reached along with more forest department officials and a rescue strategy was set in motion almost immediately after ruling out tranquilising as there was a risk of it getting drowned.

“The jackal was sitting on a small uneven stone extension in the well and was half submered in the water. We decided to lower a ladder parallel to where it was sitting. Our most experienced team member Dhondu Kokane who is a labour with the forest department and has been working on animal rescue since 2002 decided to climb down the ladder with a snare and managed to grab the hind limb after few attempts,” shared Deshmukh adding that meanwhile Kokane held the Jackal the rescue team standing on the top got the jackal into the basket using bamboo sticks and even had to pin it down while pulling the basket up to ensure it does not jump back into the well.

Finally after about an hour later the exceptionally nerve-wracking rescue was over and around 6.20 the jackal was out and as soon as its feet touched the ground it sprang up and ran into the neighbouring forest.

Sanjay Gaikwad from Junnar forest department shared that in recent years due to loss of forest cover and depletion of prey base, wildlife animals such as this jackal have been forced to venture into human habitation in search of food and water. “This in turn has resulted in increasing incidents of man-animal conflicts in this region,” he said. Meanwhile Geeta Seshamani, Co-founder of Wildlife SOS said, “Uncovered wells pose a huge risk not only to wildlife but also to people’s safety. There is an urgent need to cover the wells, especially the ones that are at the periphery of human habitations.”

In India, the golden jackal (Canis aureu) also known as the common jackal or Asiatic jackal is included in CITES Appendix III, and found in Kutch, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana. Omnivores in nature, they feed on small mammals, insects, hares, fish, birds and fruits and often venture into human habitats in search of the same. This species is protected under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.