CHANDIGARH, Aug 16: Thanks to a three-hour surgery that set a steel rod in its broken leg and a month of tender loving care from local animal-lover Jyotsana Kohli, a beautiful fawn is up and running around again, good as new.The beautiful little creature, whom she calls Maya, came into her care by a rather round-about route: men of a Haryana Police Commandos unit undergoing training at a range on the banks of the Ghaggar, near Panchkula, chanced to see it fall from the high cliffs near the range and they also saw a truck stop and the driver and cleaner race over to grab the animal. The commandos intervened and claimed the fawn, which they then brought to Chandigarh's Sector 22 Government Veterinary Clinic.On examination, it was discovered that the fawn had broken its leg in the fall. The bone could be set but it would require weeks of meticulous after-care to ensure the deer's survival which was beyond the scope of the commandos. The doctor suggested they turn it over to the SPCA, and as luck would have it, Kohli - one of that body's most active members - happened to be visiting the clinic at the time."That's how this little one became my responsibility," Kohli says, "since then, Dr Gurinder of the SPCA has set the bone using a steel rod and I have looked after her night and day."For the past month, Kohli (of Chandigarh's Sector 21) has been nursing the injured animal back to health and has been repaid with a trust and affection that is touching to see. "Now the problem is its rehabilitation," Kohli says.The police commandos, who have kept in touch with Kohli, tell her that they often see a doe come to the top of the cliff and gaze around as if looking for its baby. "In another few days, I'll take the fawn to the spot where the doe is usually seen and see if mother and baby can be reunited. It's an open question whether the mother and the herd will accept it now. If this doesn't work, Maya will go to the zoo."Kohli wants residents to take Maya's story as a lesson in how to treat wild animals that stray into the City. "There have been so many cases of deer being chased until they dropped dead of exhaustion," says Kohli. "People react this way not because they are wicked but because they are ignorant. These shy and beautiful creatures panic easily and if they stray into the town, we must take care not to frighten them any more than they already are."
