BHOPAL: Police in Madhya Pradesh have increasingly taken on the role of rescuers of wild animals in distress.
Primarily tasked with providing timely assistance to people in emergencies, the Dial-112 emergency response service of the Madhya Pradesh Police has also been instrumental in saving the lives of wild animals across the state, which is known for its rich biodiversity, including tigers, cheetahs, leopards, wolves, gharials and vultures.
According to figures provided by the state police headquarters, wild animals rescued by Dial-112 (formerly Dial-100) first response vehicles (FRVs) and associated emergency response teams between March 2025 and June 2026 include deer, peacocks, nilgai, turtles and sand boa snakes.
On June 7, a timely intervention by a Dial-112 team saved the life of a deer fawn in the Miana area of Guna district in the Gwalior-Chambal region. Three days earlier, a spotted deer critically injured in an accident in the Jabera area of Damoh district in Bundelkhand was rescued and handed over to the forest department by another emergency response team.
On June 5, an emergency response vehicle rushed to the Porsa area of Morena district and rescued a nilgai trapped inside a pond during the night.
Earlier in May, Dial-112 teams rescued a deer fawn in the Aron area of Guna district. Notably, the same area had witnessed the killing of three police personnel by blackbuck poachers in May 2022.
On May 9, 2026, another Dial-112 team rescued a wounded peacock in Shajapur district. This came ten days after police personnel, assisted by forest department staff in Datia district, rescued a peacock from a 70-foot-deep well.
Another wounded peacock was rescued by a Dial-112 team from the Noorabad area of Morena district on March 14, 2026.
In March 2025, when the service was still operating as Dial-100, police rescued three deer in Betul, Vidisha and Rajgarh districts after receiving alerts about animals injured in accidents on March 29, March 25 and March 18, respectively.
Beyond Dial-112 operations, district police units across Madhya Pradesh have also been involved in similar rescue efforts.
In October 2025, police rescued a blackbuck that was in severe pain after falling into a deep well. In September 2025, police teams, along with forest department officials, rescued four rare turtles from wildlife smugglers in the tribal-dominated Mandla district of the Mahakoshal region.
In November 2025, police in Ashoknagar district rescued a rare sand boa snake from wildlife traffickers.
“Our teams, whether Dial-112 FRVs or district police units across Madhya Pradesh, are equally committed to saving human lives in distress as well as rescuing wild animals and cattle caught in emergencies. We have been coordinating closely with local forest department teams, responding promptly to animals in distress and handing over injured animals to forest officials for treatment,” AIG (MP Police HQ) Maloy Jain told TNIE on Sunday.