Beyond Call Of Duty: Dial 112 Teams Save Wildlife Beyond Emergency Policing

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Even as Dial 112 is primarily meant to respond to people in distress, the emergency service has also emerged as an unlikely lifeline for wildlife, rescuing deer, peacocks, nilgai, turtles and other animals across Madhya Pradesh over the past year.

On June 7, a Dial 112 First Response Vehicle (FRV) of the state police saved the life of a fawn in Guna district.

Three days earlier, a spotted deer critically injured in a road accident in Damoh district was rescued and handed over to the forest department by another FRV team.

Though meant to help people in distress, the Dial 112 service has also been saving the lives of wild animals in various parts of the state. Over the past one year, FRVs have rescued deer, peacocks, nilgai, turtles and sand boa snakes.

On June 5, a police FRV rushed to Porsa in Morena district and rescued a nilgai trapped in a pond at night. Earlier in May, it rescued a deer fawn in Guna district.

On May 9, another Dial 112 team rescued a wounded peacock in Shajapur. Ten days earlier, police personnel, assisted by forest department staff, rescued a peacock from a well in Datia district.

Another peacock found injured in the Noorabad area of Morena was rescued by a Dial 112 team on March 14. In March 2025, an FRV rescued three deer in Betul, Vidisha and Rajgarh districts on different dates.

Not just Dial 112, police personnel posted in district police forces across the state have also carried out similar rescues.

In October 2025, a blackbuck that had fallen into a deep well was rescued by the local police.

In September 2025, police teams, along with forest department personnel, rescued four rare turtles from turtle smugglers in Tribal-dominated Mandla district.

In November 2025, police in Ashoknagar district rescued a rare sand boa snake from wildlife smugglers.

"Our personnel are committed to saving the lives of people in distress, as well as rescuing wild animals and cattle caught in emergencies.

We've been coordinating with local forest department teams to rush to the aid of animals in distress and then handing the injured animals over to forest department personnel to save their lives," a senior Police Headquarters (PHQ) official told Free Press.