Rescued jackal dies choking on food

In a rare incident that has left the Forest Department officials stunned, a jackal that was safely rescued 10 days ago from Vikhroli Godrej colony after it had fallen inside a pit, died due to asphyxia after chocking on food at Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP).

Describing it as an extremely rare case Dr Shailesh Pethe, Veterinary officer for SGNP, said it was an unfortunate death as the young jackal was growing healthy after being rescued. In fact, the doctors were considering to release it.

According to the Vet, the jackal was malnourished and probably had not eaten for weeks before the rescue. As soon as they gave it food, it wanted to grab and finish it quickly.

Pethe said, "This was one of the reasons for giving it boneless chicken. He was given food on the night of May 25 and we got to know about its death early next morning from the animal keepers. It shocked me as we knew it had no health issues at all." He added that they found out that the jackal died due to asphyxia during postmortem. The doctor founf food stuck in its wind pipe.

While jackals are known to live in and around the mangrove area of Vikroli, this one ended up inside Godrej Colony on May 24. This resulted in a huge commotion in the area. The jackal was chased by some residents and colony dogs, and ended up falling in one of the open manholes. It was later rescued by NGO Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) who brought the animal to SGNP for care.