A rare animal, a gandhagokul (palm civet), has been found in a rat trap in Madaripur. Hearing the news, local people rushed to see it.

On Wednesday (30 October) afternoon, Madaripur forest department officials, having been informed, took the animal away to release it.

Earlier, at around 10pm on Tuesday (29 October), local farmer Monir Talukder caught it in the Pakdi area of ward 7 of Madaripur municipality.

Local sources said Monir Talukder had set a trap to kill rats in a garden beside his house. When he went to the garden at night, he found a rare animal caught in the trap. He brought the trap home and kept the animal in another, larger cage. Hearing about it, people from the surrounding area crowded his house to get a look. On Wednesday afternoon, people from the Madaripur forest department came and took the animal to release it.

Md Humayun Kabir, a gardener at the Madaripur forest department office, said gandhagokul were once seen often but are no longer seen. "We brought the animal in after getting the news. It will later be released in the Khulna forest area," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.