There’s more. This year, more than 50 snakes were rescued from the Prime Minister’s residence and the adjoining area of Lutyens’ Delhi. ‘Homeless’ peacocks were mauled to death by dogs after parts of the Siri Fort forest were cut down for a Commonwealth Games project.

The city has been a dramatic war-zone, with people on one side and an unexpected amount of wildlife on the other.

The number of stranded animals, including protected species, is climbing higher: indicating that tree-cutting and developmental activities are shaking the last refuges of animals in the city.

Pushed out of their habitat
Think of Delhi and magnificent monuments, sweeping infrastructure and Commonwealth Games come to mind. But scratch beneath the surface of the neighbourhood park, the road divider, stretches of established forest and patches of old trees, and unusual inhabitants crawl out. It may sound improbable, but 15 wild Indian Rock Pythons were rescued from the capital this year.

Compared to last year, snake rescue calls, according to the official animal rescue agency Wildlife SOS, have gone up by 20 per cent. “As many as 50 snake calls came from the Prime Minister’s residence, Rashtrapati Bhawan and Lutyens’ Delhi,” says Kartick Satyanarayan of Wildlife SOS, which works with the Delhi Police and the MCD. The rescued snakes included cobras, pythons, wolf snakes, keelbacks and black-headed royal diadem snakes.

The number of rescued snakes in the entire city has risen to 300: a marked increase from 200 snakes in 2006.

“Higher number of rescue calls this year point to heightened awareness, but also to the fact that animal habitats are being irrevocably disturbed,” Satyanarayan says.

Besides snakes, as many as 130 black kites, 22 civet cats, 13 common grey mongoose, 30 Indian flap shell turtles, 35 cobras, and 4 serpent crested eagles (a rare bird) were rescued this year. Close to 150 nilgais were rescued, including from the Delhi airport, which has set project deadlines for the Commonwealth Games.

“These are high numbers. Something is certainly wrong,” he says. “The rescues happened in areas of development activities.” This includes the area around the Siri Fort, the Ridge and the Delhi Airport.

Tribute to the extinct vulture
A bunch of blown-up close ups of vultures installed at the Mandi House roundabout this December showcased what Delhi is missing. Found in thousands in the 90s, vultures are extinct from the city. Diclofenac, a painkiller used for cattle, has resulted in the death of vultures after they feed on its carrion.

Ravi Agarwal, who runs the NGO Toxicslink, says he set up the art installation at Mandi House for a reason: now vultures in Delhi are only stuffed specimens kept in the National Museum of Natural History in the area.

The loss of vultures from the food chain encourages dogs to scavenge dead animals, and even develop a taste for hunting prey (the Siri Fort case may be an example). The problem is closer home than one imagines.

Sacrificed on the altar of development
More than 10,000 trees have been cut this year in areas like Najafgarh, Janakpuri, Lal Sai Marg and Mayapuri. Since 2003, permission for felling 26,740 trees has been granted.

Every small tree counts as a habitat. Even the length of grass in parks makes a difference. Recently, Siri Fort resident Arpana Caur said in a Supreme Court-constituted Centrally Empowered Committee’s (CEC) hearing that displaced peacocks from the Siri Fort forests were being eaten by dogs: 891 trees were cut in the area for a badminton-cum-squash court for the Commonwealth Games. Trees were also cut down in Panchsheel this year.

Disturbance in the Central Ridge area was indicated when a wild adult jackal was found trapped behind a generator set in Connaught Place’s Regal Cinema at the end of 2007. Probable disturbance in the Northern Ridge led an eight-kg adult python to climb to the roof of a house in Civil Lines in North Delhi on October 3.

A first-time study conducted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for India had found that one of the reasons for the disappearance of the common sparrow is that grass in lawns is being mowed too short for the existence of insects, a major food base for sparrows.

“Many old trees or established wooded areas serve as habitats for animals in the city. I have seen mongoose on Bhagwan Das Road,” says Faiyaz Khudsar, scientist-in-charge, Yamuna Biodiversity Park.