The Asian palm civets may be giving sleepless nights to many, but for them it is a fight for survival after losing their natural habitats.
An Asian Civet Cat. Photo by Rahana Habeeb.
The sound of scurrying little feet falls silent after rudely waking up the resident. Stinking liquid trickles down through the gaps in the wooden attic, before the originator of the midnight hullabaloo scurries to and forth, forcing the now fully awakened resident to spend a sleepless night.
The world above the attic comes alive as midnight approaches as the residents below sink into the embrace of a good night’s sleep. The scurrying sounds are often accompanied by shrieking war cries as the attic turns territorial battleground.
Such nightmarish scenes are replicated in the official residences of the top political leadership in Kerala, a state now facing rampant attacks by wildlife in villages abutting its forests.
Even the chief minister, a few ministers, and the Opposition leader are not spared sleepless nights, thanks to a small seemingly innocuous mammal.
The menace of the Asian palm civets has become so serious in the official residences of these leaders in Thiruvananthapuram that they have now come out in the open, complaining against the viverrid.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan went on to say that drinking water should be kept closed and secured to prevent the civets, sharing his official residence Cliff House, from contaminating it with their urine. Clothes, washed and pressed, too, are not spared.
Though politically poles apart, Vijayan has for company Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and Opposition leader VD Satheesan.
Cliff House
Asian Palm Civets, also known as toddy cats, are protected animals. Still, their nighttime antics on the attics of old buildings have now forced the government to act.
The government has initiated an exercise, costing at least ₹48,90,000, to keep the residences of ministers and the Opposition leader free of palm civets.
In most cases, the old wooden attics would be replaced with concrete and other new building materials.
Incidentally, it is not the political VIPs who are complaining. Forest department officials confirmed a hike in the number of calls from residents in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kollam, and Kannur, requesting the capture and relocation of these creatures.
At the forest headquarters at Vazhuthacaud in Thiruvananthapuram, the largest number of telephone calls received each day are related to the capture and relocation of those nocturnal animals.
Both Vijayan and Satheesan said the thought of having palm civets in the attic has always been terrifying.
The Opposition leader said he wakes up around 4 am on most days, unable to bear the hurly-burly of territorial fights above the attic.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. (Creative Commons)
Superstition has it that the presence of palm civets indicated that the building was haunted.
But zoologists term them small and harmless, and they have been disconnected from the broken patches of forests, formerly their home. After straying into residential areas, they scurry about looking for new homes.
According to wildlife specialists, this nocturnal omnivore typically subsists on fruits and occasionally scavenges, and it poses little threat to humans.
These tree climbers seek refuge in homes’ air conditioning ducts, attics, and false ceilings as their natural habitats deteriorate.
According to Kerala Public Works Department officials, most official residences of ministers in Kerala were built pre-independence, to accommodate top officials.
The old-fashioned buildings have aesthetics, and they all have wooden attics. For example, the Cliff House was built in 1942 as the official residence of the Diwan of Travancore State, and it has received only periodic maintenance since then. The civets enter these residences through the tiled roofs.
According to documents tabled in the Assembly recently, around ₹1.85 crore has been spent so far for various construction and maintenance works at the Cliff House during the past two-and-a-half years.
It included around ₹37.5 lakh for the construction of a cattle shed, a pit to dump cow dung and reconstruction of a damaged portion of the compound; ₹29 lakh for security, and ₹72 lakh for refurbishing the rooms of security guards and other staff.
Some conservationists felt the chief minister’s statement on the civet menace was an excuse to carry out a mega renovation of the official residences of the ministers to avoid public scrutiny and criticism.
Meanwhile, the political leadership’s anti-civet statements have fuelled an aversion among the public to the nocturnal animals, which are widely beaten to death or poisoned. Kerala has reported many instances of people killing these animals and consuming their meat.
Across India, civets are seen with horror. Unsubstantiated wild tales about them are many. People see them as vicious carnivores with a dubious reputation for snatching away human babies.
Kerala Opposition leader VD Satheesan. (Supplied)
An ordinary common palm civet weighs only up to a maximum of 3.5 kg, making it impossible to carry a baby. Many people view them as bad omens.
Other than Vijayan and Satheesan, those who openly complained about civets included ministers V Sivankutty, V Abdurahiman, and R Bindu.
Several official residences in Thiruvananthapuram, including Manmohan Bangalow, Xanadu, Rose House, Ajantha, Kowdiar House, and Thycaud House, face civet problems.
Last year, a civet menace chased Governor Khan away from the Raj Bhavan to a hotel.
Meanwhile, Vijayan’s statement against civets also invited political interpretations.
Youth Congress state president Rahul Mankoottathil felt the Cliff House’s civets were fearless and even dared to urinate in the “lionhearted” chief minister’s drinking glass.
Mankoottathil said one of the civets must be given the home portfolio, currently handled by the chief minister, since Vijayan has been a failure in handling the department.
According to zoologist OP Nameer, civets are important to urban biodiversity.
Apart from hunting rats and insects, these animals also help in dispersing the seeds of the fruits and vegetables. The brown palm civets, which can be found in the wild, excrete the world’s most expensive coffee beans, the kopi luwak.
Governor Khan in Kollam. (Screengrab)
In Coorg, Karnataka, farmers manufacture expensive coffee using civets. In Kerala, the common Indian civet (veruku in Malayalam) is also facing a similar threat from urban dwellers.
Due to its habitat destruction, this nocturnal mammal enters homes, apartment complexes, commercial buildings, and educational institutions in search of food.
Come nighttime, they climb up the trees, jump onto the terraces and balconies stealthily, and forage for food.
They mostly consume vegetables and fruits from terrace gardens and, at times, attack poultry.
Forest officials who have rescued hundreds of toddy cats said that earlier, these creatures used to take shelter on the roofs of traditional houses in Kerala.
“With traditional houses paving the way for terraced buildings, the civets also shifted their shelters,” a forest official informed.
Once the animal gets into a building or the false ceiling of a house, it isn’t easy to catch it.
Incidentally, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, too, had a sleepless night five years ago. A territorial fight on the attic of the Government Guest House at West Hill in the Kozhikode suburbs, woke her up.
The civet fight in the guest house’s attic reportedly kept Priyanka — who could not figure out the reason for the commotion — up at night.
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