Pune: In a rare incident, a civet cat was discovered inside a medical shop at Pabal Chowk on the Pune-Nagar Highway early Saturday (October 5) morning.

The animal was safely rescued and released into the wild after being identified by local wildlife experts.

The owner of Shekhar Medical, Shekhar Datkhile, first noticed the civet cat around 7 a.m. Mistaking it for a rat, Datkhile and his staff initially attempted to drive the animal away.

However, after realizing it was not an ordinary creature, they alerted members of the Nisarg Wildlife Social Organization.

Wildlife experts Sherkhan Sheikh, Amol Kusalkar, and Shubham Wagh quickly arrived at the scene and identified the animal as a civet cat. Following consultation with the Forest Department, the team safely released the animal into the forest near Sanaswadi-Koregaon Bhima, ensuring its protection and return to a natural habitat.

The incident comes during Wildlife Week, a time when the Forest Department is particularly alert about wildlife sightings and safety. During the monsoon season, it is not uncommon for wild animals to wander into human settlements in search of shelter.

Shekhar Datkhile, the owner of the shop, expressed his surprise, saying, “At first, we thought it was a large rat, but we soon realized it was something unusual, so we contacted the wildlife team.”

The prompt response by the wildlife organization and coordination with the Forest Department ensured that the civet cat was safely relocated without harm.