Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Animals escaping from a zoo is not unheard of, but, in a unique incident, a jackal from outside the city zoo entered the premised and jumped into the tigers’ enclosure. Fortunately for him, the alert zoo authorities managed to save him. The jackal, on Wednesday, was spotted by visitors and, within one and a half hours, it was rescued.
A jackal, which feeds off tigers’ scrap of prey and leftovers, was itself about to become the prey of tigers on Wednesday. But, luckily it escaped into a pipe and saved itself from the deadly big cats. The zoo authorities said that they were informed that a jackal was running about within the premises of the tigers’ cage. Immediately swinging into action, the authorities ran towards the cage of the tiger. They noticed the jackal running about here and there to save itself.
One of the visitors to the city zoo, Rahul Joshi, said, “After a long walk, we reached the tigers’ enclosure. We noticed that the tigers were hyperactive in the cage and were running about here and there. We then saw a jackal, which had come up from behind a tree at the rear end, running towards the front of the cage with a burly tiger in hot pursuit. As it came ahead a few feet, another tiger tried to jump on it. The chase continued for a few minutes and, then, the jackal managed to jump inside a pipe-shaped object placed inside the tigers’ enclosure. The tigers roamed around it for awhile and then sat aside, as if they were waiting for the jackal to come out of it.”
Another visitor, Aarti Sharma, said, “We were shocked at first that jackals and tigers were living together in Indore zoo… that would’ve been unique! But, later, when we observed closely, we found that it had, apparently, accidentally entered the cage and was running about in fright to save its life.”
Zoo-in-charge Dr Uttam Yadav said, “How the jackal managed to enter the cage isn’t clear as of now. We’re investigating the tigers’ enclosure to ensure that there’s no opening from where a tiger could escape.” The zoo administration, hazarding a guess, said that there might be a chance that the jackal had climbed up a tree and jumped into the tigers’ enclosure.
Jackal-tiger relationship
According to information, the natural instinct of jackals is that they follow tigers on their hunt for prey so that they can feed off of the tigers’ scraps. The tiger does all of the work to catch and kill its prey, but it doesn’t seem to mind jackals cleaning up after it.
Dr Yadav added that jackals were natural scavengers and it might be possible that looking at the tigers the jackal had jumped into the tigers’ cage in search of food.
The jackal needs some medical aid
Dr Yadav said the jackal was slightly injured and had some cuts on its body. They had kept the jackal in a special cage to monitor its health. Its treatment will also be done by the zoo authorities.
‘Jackal does not belong to zoo’
‘The jackal is not a city zoo inmate. It’s come from somewhere outside. It’s under observation. It would, possibly, have come from the Khandwa Road side or such a jungle area. It might have come from the tunnels and water channels in search of food and prey’ — Dr Uttam Yadav, zoo-in-charge, Kamla Nehru Prani Sangrahalaya, Indore
