Caring Hands

Remember Into the wild - the biographical adventure drama directed by Sean Penn based on the book of the same name written by Jon Krakauer? It’s an adventure survival drama that falls into most of our best movies list. If you haven’t read or watched it yet, it tells the story of Christopher McCandless, a man who hiked across North America into the Alaskan wilderness. The book, also the movie, meticulously shows the difficulties of a man who is alone in the wild. So, let’s think about that from a different perspective now. How do you think a wild animal would feel or behave when they are displaced from their natural habitat .ie wild and brought to an urban landscape? Much similar to a fish out of the water, agree?

Keeping aside the critical importance of wildlife and its habitat in our survival, isn’t it apparent that wild animals should be allowed to live in their natural habitat without any human intervention? We believe in that philosophy and that’s why rehabilitation and release are as important for us as the rescue. We have a team of veterinarians and rehabilitation specialists who make good effort to rehabilitate the rescued wild animals after treatment. The idea is to enable them to fend for themselves in the wild, without any human aid. 

Our rehabilitation centre re-integrates displaced, injured and orphaned animals to their natural habitats through various behavioural, environmental and instinctive cues. Successful rehabilitation requires the concentrated efforts of veterinarians, animal ethologists and caregivers at all levels. Since every animal is unique in response, the process of rehabilitation can, therefore, vary based on species and condition. 

The period and design of the rehabilitation regime can vary from animal to animal, even if of the same species. In case of social creatures such as Bonnet Macaques, Parakeets and Barn Owls, the primaeval focus lies in socialising the animals with their kind. They often have to be taught the types of food to eat. This is done by strictly adhering to the diet followed by the species in the wild. Orphaned young ones and hand-raised animals are introduced to their kind. The individuals are kept in a group in a socialising unit where they relearn their instincts by bonding with other members of their species, as we taper down the human connect.

Some aspects we keep in mind while rehabilitating the species are to minimise the human interaction and dependence, to build a diet plan akin to the naturally present, to enhance the instinct to search or hunt for food and to modify enclosures to simulate natural conditions as best as possible. The rehabilitation process also depends on the severity of the injury, the recovery period and the species behaviour. For example, Snakes often require less rehabilitation time, while primates such as Bonnet Macaques have to be nurtured back to their instincts and behaviours carefully, as they tend to form a bond with humans.

There are different rehabilitative measures we adopt for each kind of species. To know more about them, visit our hospital and witness our in-care animals under rehabilitation. 

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