From trapping cats that had overrun Rashtrapathi Bhavan to removing palm civets that were annoying a Prime Minister, veterinarian N. Panneerselvam has done it all.
When he was with the National Zoological Park in the capital, he got an unusual assignment from President K.R. Narayanan’s staff: to remove the considerable population of cats that roamed the residence.
“They were all over and I knew it would be difficult to catch all of them. I hit upon the idea of getting the cooks to feed them at one particular place regularly. Soon, they started gathering in that room. I went there and just closed the door, before tranquillizing them,” recalls Madurai-based Panneerselvam, who has recorded his experiences on the wild side in a new book, Koondukku Veliyey (Outside the Cage).
Dr. Panneerselvam got another challenging task, which was to trap two fleet-footed palm civets in a VVIP residence: A.B. Vajpayee, the Prime Minister, had to get them off the lawn before foreign dignitaries arrived for a dinner. “I caught one big civet, but the other one bolted up a tree. Using torchlights provided by the Prime Minister’s security guards, I spotted and tranquillised it. The security guards commended my shooting skills,” says Panneerselvam, who also helped set up an eco park in Rashtrapathi Bhavan during A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s tenure.
The vet’s book in Tamil is a first, on wild animals and birds, describing their behaviour in captivity, their diseases and treatments. It also has a ‘how-to’ on tranquillizing animals.
Voice for tigersHe is keen to dispel the idea, based on the writings of Jim Corbett and others, that tigers are habitual man-eaters.
“Wild animals, including tigers, are not man-eaters. They enter human habitations in search of domestic animals when food in the forest gets scarce. Old animals, incapable of hunting may attack humans. In Delhi, where he was the vet when a white tiger killed a man, “the animal was provoked when he threw stones,” he argues.
The veterinarian has helped the Tamil Nadu government when humans were in conflict with elephants, and helped trap a violent elephant that was part of a reception arranged for Chief Minister Jayalalithaa during her previous regime. “It had killed its mahout and there was a proposal to eliminate it. I lured it and tranquillized the animal,” he recalls.
Young vets looking for dynamism in their career should learn to treat wild animals, Dr. Panneerselvam says. “It will offer opportunities to travel around the world,” he promises.
