On spotting a ‘Kaala’ in town…

USHA LACHUNGPA

Everyone was looking upwards as we drove by the STNM Hospital Dara at around 9.30 a.m. on 18 Nov, 2011. We stopped to investigate. A clearly visible, large male ‘KAALA’, the Himalayan Palm Civet, was climbing up the lone Cupressus funebris at the taxi stop as more people gathered under it to gawk.
One realizes how far the local populace lives from its immediate surrounds when you hear enquiries like “Chituwa ho?” (Chituwa is the local name for Common Leopard, a large wild cat visibly spotted as the name suggests.) When told it was a ‘Kaala’, the comment was, “Eitti thulo huncha ra?”, and “O, alainchi khaney ho?” It was exactly the same month, four years ago, in the same area, while waiting for a taxi that I photographed the animal, but walking across telephone cables along the road at 5 p.m. How unusual is it to find civet cats roaming the state capital in broad daylight?
Gangtok is perhaps one of the few state capitals where wildlife is visible within the main town area. This is one of the commoner species seen within shouting distance of Gangtok Bazar. Of some known records, one Kaala had got electrocuted in Deorali some years ago, last year Pema Wangchuk shared a photograph of another sleeping in broad daylight on a building ledge amidst garbage in Gangtok Bazar, yet another was reported from under the large drain/ jhora near Thado-Line of bazaar, setting off rumours of Red Pandas roaming in Gangtok jhoras; a friend reported its loud calls disturbing the neighbourhood around Thakurbari; another said perhaps it was a whole family of Kaala clattering across the roof every night during its breeding season. One was seen in the dense foliage of the large epiphyte laden tree near the stairway adjoining ‘Technical’, as GICI or DHH is popularly known; we saw one during our morning walk near Raj Bhavan campus. At Forest Colony, Balwakhani, it competes with the resident Lotharkey or Squirrels in raiding our ripe Tree Tomatoes, coming right up to the window to chomp on them. And these are just a few records, all just within the town area.
The animal, the size of a very large cat weighing between three to five kgs, is harmless to us humans. It has few natural enemies and only a smelly discharge to defend itself. Its pale grey thick coat is unmarked, but it has a ‘masked’ face. Its strong tail is almost as long as its body, helping in balancing itself. It is shy and wary about descending to the ground. Like squirrels it needs its natural aerial highways to move to different food sources, mainly fruits and even small birds or their eggs. It has more to fear from stray dogs and cats while searching for scraps of food disposed carelessly, besides exposure to all kinds of disease or toxic chemicals. As more and more trees bow out of Gangtok, Civet cats, Yellow-throated martens (‘Malsapro’), Squirrels, Flying squirrels (‘Raj-Pankhi’), Bats (‘Chamera’) are fast loosing this aerial connectivity of trees, exposing them to hazards of electric lines and poles, dogs and even vehicles.
Our state’s famous wildlife and biodiversity thrive and find sanctuary in various protected areas, but it is our collective responsibility to ensure their contiguity by keeping alive a fine network of tree and vegetation corridors so that they feel safe in their areas and we in ours. Moreover such corridor areas would be a boon for our ecotourism efforts. This way, we avoid any sort of conflict, detrimental to both sides, and keep the flag of conservation flying high during this International Year of Forests and United Nations Decade on Biodiversity.
-05 December 2011
[The writer is a Principal Research Officer with the Department of Forest, Environment & Wildlife Management, Govt. of Sikkim]