55 wildlife creatures suffering from dehydration rescued in Mumbai

At least 55 wildlife creatures including birds and reptiles, many of them suffering from dehydration, were rescued in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region in the last three days, an NGO claimed on Wednesday.

The Forest Department and Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) were flooded with calls about dehydrated animals stranded in residential areas, said Pawan Sharma, founder of RAWW, an NGO, and an honorary wildlife warden.

An eight-feet-long Indian Rock Python was found in a housing society in suburban Mulund which is located on the edge of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, said Sharma. Joaquim Naik of the RAWW rescued it and released it in the wild, he added.

In neighbouring Thane, a pregnant cobra was found severely dehydrated and distressed near a residential area. It was treated by veterinary doctors and kept under observation.

The reptile was in severe stress due to which it had abandoned its eggs which were unfertilized, according to Chinmay Joshi, a zoologist attached to the RAWW.

It was later released in a natural habitat in coordination with the forest department, Sharma said. Elsewhere, an adult spectacled cobra fallen into a 30-feet dry well was rescued at Saphale village in neighbouring Palghar district, a forest official said.