PANJIM: Rescuing of animals especially of snakes and crocodiles by enthusiastic, but often ignorant youth, could be doing more harm than good, and people who indulge in such publicity could also face action and arrests from the forest officials, a wildlife expert has warned.. Francisco Xavier de Araujo an ex forest officer has expressed concern about the frequency of such captures being reported in newspapers which could endanger the “rescued animal more than saving it.” “In such cases the people always claim that they have “rescued” the animal. When you find an animal, it is in its environment. We are not supposed to interfere in a process which is happening in the forest. Secondly where do we release it? People say release it in a sanctuary. But they don’t realise they’re displacing the animal from its environment. You know that each animal has its territory marked out and a displaced animal could be in another’s territory and face new threats,” Araujo said. Araujo’s warning comes as there were news reports about people “rescuing” a monkey which was being eaten by a python. “The python was only in the process of eating the monkey, which is an ecological phenomenon for survival. By rescuing the monkey the python is deprived of its food. We should not interfere in the natural process of survival in the wild. People must have thought that they have done a humanitarian gesture, but it is not so. The python or any other wild animal does not kill for killing’s sake. They kill only for food,” People rescuing such pythons usually hold the snakes or tie down the crocodiles in a manner which could fatally injure the animal. Araujo said the best way to deal with situations is to allow the animal to go on its way or if it is in a house it should be released nearby. Capturing of animals is also illegal especially if the animal is a species figures in the schedules of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and people who indulge in such publicity could also face action and arrests from the forest officials. Araujo’s observations come even as the Wildlife Institute of India declared that leopards (which also are animals that are “rescued”) is occupying an even greater area of Goa’s forests. Leopard captures too involve “mobs” who do not allow forest officials to perform their rescue operations by their shrieks and yells and attempts to excite the cat which could possibly injure itself as it is frightened at that time.