Kaziranga: A male serow (Capricornis Sumatraensis) was rescued after it was captured by some villagers of Bokolia situated in the Karbi Anglong East Division. It was taken to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) for treatment of an injury in its hind leg and for further rehabilitation.

“The DFO of Karbi Anglong East Division, Mr. Hazarika called to inform us that some villagers of Bokolia had captured a sambar,” reported Anjan Talukdar, the Centre veterinarian. “He asked the Centre to take necessary care and treatment as it had a wound on the left hind leg,” added Talukdar.

“Despite the tense situation in that area and Karbi Anglong bandh that day, our driver Mahadeo drove 190 km to enable us reach the spot in the evening of the same day. The DFO was kind enough to provide armed guards who guided us to the spot,” recounted Talukdar.

On reaching the spot, the CWRC team found a case of mistaken identity. It was actually a serow tied to a tree in the Police station of Bokolia. The villagers had sighted it in a paddy field and thinking it was a sambar, had tried to chase it out of the field. In the chase, the serow had cut a tendon in the left rear limb at the point of the hock.

Serow are very rarely sighted in the hill district of Karbi Anglong. Usually, serow are solitary, inhabiting forests from 6,000 feet to 10,000 feet altitude in the mountains.

A local vet at Bokolia treated the injury but it needs to be examined once the animal is stabilized. At present the serow has been taken to CWRC where it is under observation in its enclosure.

Dr N V K Ashraf, Deputy Director of the Wild Rescue programme of Wildlife Trust of India says, “We have to use utmost caution in approaching the serow. The Centre veterinarians have thus left the serow to stabilize, after which its injury will be examined in detail.”

This is the first rescue case of a serow at CWRC. Situated adjacent to the Kaziranga National Park, Assam, CWRC was founded by the Assam Forest Department and Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) with support from WTI’s partner, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). CWRC is a systematic and scientific initiative to deal with wild animals in distress where immediate human intervention is required for their survival.