rescue act

Recently Chahat Khanna had gone on a holiday to Goa and she had a very interesting experience in one of the villages.

Chahat Khanna (TOI photo) More Pics

"A man with a baby bear was making it do tricks like palti maro and when the poor animal couldn't do it he would beat it with a stick," Chahat tells us. "The bear would become ferocious, but the next time it did the stunt properly. But the guy would still beat it again. I asked him why he was beating the bear and as I went near to it I saw its foot bleeding profusely. I felt very sorry for the poor animal and started arguing with its owner and told him that it's illegal to abuse animals. I also lied to him that I'm an animal officer, but he replied, Ye sab Bombay mein dikhao, Goa mein nahin chalega. I got irritated and told him to come to the police station. The guy halfway through backed out and left the baby bear with me and went away. I took it home and bandaged the wound. It was very scared and was not even opening its mouth. I gave it some food to and finally the next day I brought it to Mumbai. I got in touch with an animal NGO and finally gave away the animal to the Sanjay Gandhi national Park." Well, done Chahat! You've done a 'beary' good job, girl!