MEPPADI : Every life is precious. A wild chameleon is among the numerous lives saved by the rescuers at the landslide site at Meppadi in Wayanad. “On Monday morning, forest officers brought a wild chameleon to our control room near the landslide site. It seemed that the reptile remained in mud for long hours and appeared tired,” said Dr Sharmadha, Government Veterinary Surgeon, who is part of the animal husbandry department team deployed at Meppadi.
“Its eyes were covered in mud. There were minor injuries on its claws and the tail-end. The eyes were cleaned with sterile water and medication was provided. We handed over the chameleon to the forest department when its condition improved,” she said. The chameleon was kept under observation for a few hours and released into the wild in the afternoon, said Rajeev Unnikrishnan, deputy range officer of the Rapid Response Team under the forest and wildlife department at Meppadi. “The scientific name of the chameleon is Nilgiri forest lizard (Calotes nemoricola). It is endemic to the Western Ghats and is a protected species under the Wildlife Act. It was released into the Meppadi forests, the same ecosystem where it lived,” he said. A forest officer who was part of the rescue operation said the chameleon was spotted near a devastated house at Chooralmala. “There were two chameleons at the site. One was dead. It seems both were born to the same mother. They were drenched in mud and the rescued one could not open its eyelids due to mud accumulation,” he said.
It is learned that a team from Vantara, the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre established by Reliance Industries, approached the forest officers to adopt the chameleon. The latter turned down the request as it was against the prevailing rules.
On Sunday, rescue workers had hospitalised a Malabar Giant Squirrel which was found in the sludge. But it couldn’t be saved. “The squirrel was brought dead. It suffered serious injuries and seemed to have remained in the mud for long hours. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be saved,” Sharmadha said.
