The forest department has rescued two palm civets (gandhagokul) from the Dakshin Majhdihi area of Sreemangal upazila in Moulvibazar. The animals were rescued from the house of Hashem Mia in Dakshin Majhdihi on Thursday morning (16 July), and released into Lawachara National Park in the afternoon at the forest department's initiative.

Local environmental activist Das Sumon said Hashem Mia saw the animals on the tin roof of his house at dawn. He managed to catch them and keep them in a cage. "A local resident named Ruhit Roy informed me, and I asked the forest department to take quick steps to rescue the animals. The forest department then rescued them," he said.

Monayem Hossain, range officer (wildlife and nature conservation) of the Moulvibazar forest department, said: "We rescued the two animals after getting the news. As they were healthy, we released them in Lawachara National Park at around 3pm."

He said palm civets are nocturnal. Of the various species, this one lives closest to people. By day it lies stretched out on a large branch parallel to the ground, with its tail hanging down. Though mainly a fruit-eater, it also eats insects, snails, eggs, chicks, birds, small animals and palm and date juice. When other food is short, it steals chickens, pigeons and fruit. It also helps farmers by eating rats and insect pests of fruit and crops.

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