Straying of deer poses a challenge in city

Sensing the gravity of the issue, the forest department officials are planning to conduct a ‘search operation’ soon to rescue spotted deer and other wild animals that were straying into the nearby areas from the forests on the IIT-M campus and nearby Raj Bhavan. 

Forest department has been asked by activists to apply corrective measures to protect the animals, as the population of spotted deer is fast increasing in the city. Sources said that spotted deer come out from IIT-M and Raj Bhavan in considerable numbers during night and stray into certain areas like Adyar, Kotturpuram and Velachery. 

Around 250 spotted deer are being rescued every year and they are shifted to either Guindy National Park or Nanmangalam Reserve Forest (RF) in the city. However, more number of deer remain untraceable in some areas. 

K Geethanjali, wildlife warden, Chennai, told DTNext, “It is a fact that a sizable number of deer is straying into the city. When we conducted a search operation in 2014-15, we rescued a total number of 316 deer. Since the temperature is rising, animals will come out in search of water and stay near waterbodies.” 

She added that the officials have already sent a proposal to the government to save the animals. “It will commence soon,” she said. When asked, if people reared deer in the city, the wildlife warden replied in the negative. 

Ashokan, District Forest Officer (DFO), Chennai, said that they were continuously rescuing deer and translocating them to Nanmangalam RF located between Velachery and Tambaram. 

Meanwhile, wildlife activists have suggested that the forest department can declare some places as ‘protected areas’ to save the animals. Shravan Krishnan, a city-based animal activist, said that long ago, the city had many forest-like areas where wildlife was living. 

“However, deforestation and construction of buildings remained as spoiler and such animals were forced to stray. Though there is no permanent solution, some pockets, where spotted deer are living, can be declared as ‘protected areas,” he said. Since spotted deer come out of the forests in the night, they also face the threat of getting run over by vehicles, he added.

Forest officials have started setting up scores of temporary troughs supported by bore wells and hand pumps in the Nanmangalam Reserve Forest to keep the wild animals hydrated in the reserve itself. Officials say that these temporary percolations would fully serve the purpose of preventing them from straying into human habitations. “We have located some spots, where the wild animals are concentrated and are hopeful of minimising exit of animals from those places, especially, during summer,” said Ashokan, DFO, Chennai.