Outreach and education has the power to turn fear into understanding, and panic into peace. At HEAL, we believe public awareness is the foundation of conservation.

Recently, this belief came to life in Chandi, a small village in Bishnupur, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. During the Bengal floods, a wild cat displaced from its wetland home was seen wandering through the village at night. A blurry video soon went viral — and with it, panic. Rumours spread that a leopard had entered the village, disrupting people’s daily lives.

When the HEAL team came across the video, we recognised the animal for what it truly was — a Fishing Cat or ‘Baghrol’, West Bengal’s state animal and an elusive, wetland-dependent species.

Knowing how quickly fear can turn into violence, our team rushed to Chandi to ensure that the animal was not harmed. We distributed leaflets, conducted miking announcements, and spoke to villagers — helping them understand:
🐾 Fishing cats don’t attack humans; their main diet is fish.
🐾 They are protected under Indian law & harming them is a punishable offence.
🐾 They help control rodent populations which destroy crops and are thus a farmer’s friend.
Slowly, fear gave way to understanding.

Villagers who had shared the viral video took it down — replacing it with our messages of coexistence and compassion.

It truly took a village to save a fishing cat — and it all began with awareness.