Nine spotted deer die in West Bengal

KOLKATA - Six spotted deer died of exhaustion while being transported to another park in West Bengal Thursday, a senior forest official said.

Three other spotted deer died in another incident.

The state’s chief principal conservator of forest (Wildlife and Bio-Diversity), S.B. Mondal said: “Six deer died of fatigue while being shifted from the Parmadan Deer Park in North 24-Parganas to Doibanki Deer Acclimatising Centre in Sunderbans, while the rest three died after fighting among themselves in the Parmadan Park.”

According to forest officials, around 26 spotted deer were being shifted to Doibanki to be released in the Sunderbans Bio-sphere to increase the prey base for the Royal Bengal Tigers.

With an increase in incidents of tigers straying into human habitation in search of food, experts and senior forest officials have concluded that the big cats were moving into villages due to scarcity of prey in the forests.

So, a decision has been taken to release deer or wild boar in the core area of the Sunderbans.

Mondal said, “Six of the 26 deer died because of fatigue due to the long journey.”