To hell with forest dept, to hell with govt. employees. When people are doing their bit to conserve wildlife, those who are appointed by govt to do the job are behaving irresponsibly.
This incident is the sequel of the previous incident of resqueing a chameleon. In that incident I found a chameleon to be carried by a man, talked with him and made him agree to surrender it to the forest dept. So he handed it over to the forest officials. Here the previous story ends and the new one begins.
Near about 1 week after that incident I again got a call from Khokonda, my photo-journalist friend. He told me yet another chameleon was found and this time just near the forest dept office itself. I was surprised, 2 chameleon siting in 2 weeks in a place where chameleons are not even found!! So I thought to investigate the matter.
Me and some other people went to that place with Khokonda. We met a young boy named Anik. He leaded us to his house and told us to wait. Then within a few minutes, he returned with a rusty bird cage. In that cage was a chameleon and it was exactly the same one. I didnt understand how after handling it over to the forest officials, did it end up in this tiny rusty cage!! But when I looked at the chameleon carefully that question was pushed aside by the health condition of it. It had a wound at the tip of its lower jaw. I suppose that happened when it tried to escape the rusty cage. So I tried to take it out of the cage. That boy Anik had not any idea what to do with it but he too cared about this beautiful lizard. So he understood the situation and helped us a lot. With everubody's help, I was able to bring the chameleon out of the cage. Then we borrowed a old shoebox from Anik, put the lizard inside and rushed it to a vet. But to our badluck no vet was available as it was sunday. So finally I bought it home.
The next day Khokonda told me the story behind. After we left the chameleon at forest office, nobody bothered about it. And after several days, they actually released it in their own backyard. I dont know how they have acted so irresponsibly!!! That area is very much crowded and there are many residential houses. it wont be long before it catches somebody's attention and again become captive and that was just what happned. Did they even think once before doing such thing?
When I brought it home, I out a great responsibility upon myself. In captivity, I myself would be responsible for its well being. But for the time being i told myself that it would be a nice opportunity to observe its behaviour. So first I sheltered it in an old aquarium. Thought it will like it but it didnt. It was a very intelligent animal. The corner of the covering that I lifted to put in some grasshoppers, it came to that point as soon as I stepped back and tried to push it up. But for now I had no bigger option. The next morning I built a bigger encloser by putting two plant pots inside a fishing net. It was nice and airy as I found out chameleons prefer circulated air. I put a little medicine on the wound and put it inside. Now after settlement I found a behavioural change. already before I grabbed it a few times, for maximum threatning purpose it opened its mouth and posed but no sound. Now when I tried to grab it, it made loud hiss just like a viper! Well, as it could not venture out to catch some insects, so I had to do the job. Next 2-3 days I was running behind grass hoppers and dragon flies just like when I was a kid. But whenever i offered it some insect, it was quick to grab it and eay it. All day it spent on top of the plants going from brunch to brunch but as soon as it was 5'o clock, it would find a nice thick brunch at mid level and would go to sleep.
After a few days the wound dried and I could see the restlessness increasing in it. It had already scouted every single squre inch of the encloser to find a spot to escape. So I took it out and released it in a suitable place far from locality without any delay. Afterall it has the same right to live free just like us.
