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Chicken rescued after 19 days under mudslide

By Linda Chhakchhuak

AIZAWL, May 31 � �Chicken Little� would be proud of the three chicken that survived for 19 days under the debris of one of the worst landslides which had left 17 dead at Laipuitlang here on May 11 last.

Animals are making news what with wayward gibbons and dogs hitting headlines this week.

The three little survivors were dug out of the mud-pile and rescued yesterday afternoon by Lungkhama and his wife. Chickens they may be, but for these owners of the poultry it was quite an emotional reunion.

He said that they heard some noise under some of the left-over debris of the landslide and started digging.

�We were amazed to see these three chickens still moving and alive. We quickly brought them out and fed and watered them,� he said. He was sad that one of them did not survive.

Lungkhama�s house just missed being washed down by the May 11 landslide, but the chicken coop which was adjacent to his house was pushed down by the hurtling landslide from the heights of Laipuitlang.

The survivors have become stars with the neighbourhood trooping in to Lungkhama�s house to see them and marvel at their resilience. The unexpected incident has brought cheer to the otherwise gloomy atmosphere post the landslide which left so many families bereaved and poorer.

Lungkhama swore that he would never slaughter these chickens as they had now become part of their family.

A hoolock gibbon being protected by the Thingsul-Tlangnuam village in Aizawl district recently went on a rampage attacking people and biting at least four persons including two children. Forest department efforts to capture the gibbon alive is not yet successful as their tranquilisers did not work.

This has started a ding-dong battle of words between those who want the right to kill it and those who oppose it on ground that humans are to blame as they have encroached into their habitat.

Meanwhile, a report from the Lunglei Civil Hospital said that 720 people had been bitten by dogs since 2010 till date with records showing that dog bites are increasing every year. An average of 25 persons are bitten every month. The records showed that the number of people bitten by dogs increased every year � 139 in 2010, 235 in 2011 and 250 in 2012 while 102 people were bitten during four months, since January to April this year.

Efforts to cull the dogs have drawn flak from the animal rights activists. Most dogs are, however, owned and not stray.

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