Four wildlife officials suspended after Haryana deer deaths

CHANDIGARH - The Haryana government Monday suspended the Rohtak divisional wildlife officer (DWO) and three others after the deaths of 14 deer in the Meham deer park in Rohtak district in the last two weeks. Four other officials had been suspended earlier.

DWO Jagdish Chander, wildlife guard Maman Ram, zoo-keeper Ishwar Dutt and helper Sunder have been placed under suspension and an enquiry would be conducted by a two-member probe team, Forests and Wildlife Minister Ajay Singh Yadav said.

The probe team comprises Conservator of Forests (Hisar) Vinod Kumar Jhajhria and Wildlife Officer (Hisar) Shakti Singh.

Admitting that the death of the deer had occurred due to the negligence of the staff, Yadav said that it was unfortunate that 10 deer died April 30 and another four May 7.

Four other wildlife officials were suspended after the first series of deer deaths in the park April 30.

Yadav said that there were 15 deer in Meham deer park last month April, comprising of black bucks and one blue bull (neelgai).

He said that on the night of April 30, some street dogs entered the park and injured 10 deer, which died later on. After this incident, wildlife sub-inspector Rajinder Singh Punia, guards Charan Singh and Randhir Singh and keeper Wazir Singh were suspended for negligence of duty.

Conservator of Forests, Wildlife, Satyabhan Singh visited Meham deer park May 3 and had instructed that the remaining five animals should be shifted to Rohtak zoo.

However, no steps were taken by the officials concerned to ensure the safety of these deer. Some dogs entered the centre May 7 night and injured four of the remaining deer. These also died later.

The Meham deer park, established in 1989, is spread over seven acres of land for sheltering deer found in the state.

Earlier, there were 22 deer in the park but 20 of these had died in flood in the area in 1995-96.