Beaten-up porcupine brought to Ctg zoo

Thanks to a passerby's inquisitiveness, a porcupine was saved from ending up on the dinner table and brought in at Chittagong Zoo yesterday, albeit in critical condition with one hind leg broken, a one-inch deep cut in the neck and most of its quills apparently pulled out.

“We gave primary treatment. Whether it will survive can be known after 24 hours,” said Veterinary Officer Shahadat Hossain, adding that it was not eating.

Around two feet long and weighing six kilogrammes, the endangered rodent is believed to be two years old. In the wild they live for up to five or six years and feed on fruit, leaves, bark and stem.

One Nazrul who brought the animal around 3:00pm claimed his neighbour in the Chinnamul slum in Sitakunda upazila caught it from a nearby hill around 6:00am.

The captor and his sons beat it with sticks and kept it tied with a nylon rope around the neck, he said.

A neighbour proposed selling it for them and Nazrul accompanied him to Firingi Bazar where one offered half of their demand for Tk 3,000.

At Bouddha Mondir area around 2:30pm one Suman Babu came forward and started inquiring about it. The seller panicked and fled and Suman paid Tk 100 to take it to the zoo, he said.

Killing, injuring or hunting endangered animals is a punishable offence as per the wildlife act 2012.