Alert Delhiite saves injured golden jackal

New Delhi, March 15 An alert Delhiite saved a golden jackal that was left with serious injuries from a piece of metal clutch wire wrapped tightly around its right forelimb, in south Delhi on Tuesday.

While out on morning walk, a resident of Sainik Farms spotted the wounded canid in an unconscious state, and immediately alerted the Wildlife SOS 24-hour rescue helpline (+91-9871963535).

The jackal was immediately attended to by the Wildlife SOS Rapid Response Unit, which, in order to avoid any further escalation of the animal's injuries, took it for emergency treatment.

The male jackal is estimated to be three years old.

"Upon closer inspection, it was found that the jackal was severely wounded by a metal clutch wire that was tightly wrapped around its right forelimb. After carefully removing the wire, the veterinar treated the animal's leg," a release from Wildlife SOS said.

"Even though the wire has been removed and treatment administered, our veterinar are still monitoring the animal constantly to check its progress," said Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder and CEO, Wildlife SOS.

The area adjacent to Sainik Farms has a small forest patch, where residents often spot porcupines, civet cats and nilgais, and even catch rare glimpses of jackals.

Golden jackal is native to the Indian subcontinent and plays a significant ecological role in forest ecosystems. They are omnivorous in nature and feed on a variety of small mammals, birds, fish, hares and even fruits.

Unfortunately, threats such as habitat fragmentation, hunting, wildlife trafficking, man-animal conflict and road accidents threaten their existence. The species is protected under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and its estimated wild population is said to be 80,000.

Wasim Akram, Deputy Director, Special Projects, Wildlife SOS, said, "With more and more habitats being fragmented, wildlife sightings in urban areas have become very common. The jackal is a very adaptive and ubiquitous canid species."

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