Official negligence claims lives of 5 deer in 10 days

Adilabad: A spotted deer was found dead in Bejjur mandal headquarter on Friday. It is suspected that the deer might have entered the village in search of drinking water and had died due to dogs' attack.

This is not the first incident that the deer has died of dogs' attack. According to villagers, the deer stray from the sanctuary in search of drinking water and are killed by dogs. Some are killed by hunters. And thus five spotted deer have been killed in a span of ten days.

The government is spending crores of rupees to protect the wildlife, and provide drinking water to animals, but due to lack of water pits at convenient location deer and other wild animals enter the nearby villages in search of water. Some deer are also strayed into the tiger zone where they are killed by the big cats.

According to sources, the deer of Kawaal Wildlife Sanctuary in Mancherial district are also in danger. Mainly spotted deers are vulnerable to dog attacks. Recently in Kotapalli village, when a spotted deer came for drinking water into a village, the villagers handed it over to the forest officers.

Similarly, a spotted deer had died in a road accident at Indenpalli village. Another spotted dear died in a road accident at Yapal area in Mandamarri on Hyderabad-Nagpur highway. In another incident, a spotted deer died on the national highway near Indaram. Spotted deer are regularly seen on main roads near Devapur village under Kasipet mandal.

According to the officials records, in Kawaal sanctuary there 342 spotted deer,72 wild sheep, 1,089 deer, 307 sambars, 610 blue bulls, 1,270 wild buffalos. According to the 2018-2019 census deer population has increased.

In spite of many schemes being pursued by the State and central governments, the negligence of the authorities has caused wildlife not to thrive. There is a need to provide drinking water to the wildlife within the sanctuary.