News & Pics: Manju Neereshwallya
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SB)

Mangalore, Jan 13: Dakshina Kannada district special police forest mobile squad trapped an Indian Civet that strayed into a house at Falnir here on Tuesday January 12.

The team led by assistant sub-inspector Naveenchandra Jogi on a tip-off rescued the small Indian civet worth Rs 1 lac from the compound of A E Joshua’s residence in Falnir and handed over it to the forest department.

ASI Jogi and his team comprising head constable Paparam Shetty, Umesh Hosalike, Dayanand, Chandrashekar and Harishchandra undertook the operations under the instructions of police superintendent, forest unit R Krishnamurthy.
 
The presence of a dorsal crest and absence of long black hair distinguish small Indian Civet from the large civet. It is a smaller animal with entire length of 3 ft and its tail is a foot long. The animal weighs from 6-8 lb. The general colour varies from brownish or olive grey to light grey. There are longitudinal more dark stripes and rows of spots along the body, a stripe down each side of the neck and frequently one across the throat, its tail is ringed with grey and brown. The small Indian civet is a shy animal and almost entirely nocturnal in habit.

This animal can easily climb the vertical trees. The major food of this animal is rats, lizards, small birds, insects, fruits and is very much fond of the berries. The small civet is found in Indian peninsula from Sind, the Punjab and foothills of Himalayas, in south to Ceylon and eastwards to Burma.