Deer run over by suburban train at Saidapet

Pratiksha Ramkumar, TNN May 3, 2013
CHENNAI: A deer was run over by a train near the Saidapet suburban railway station late Thursday night.

The animal, suspected to be around four-years-old, was trying to cross the railway track at around midnight, when one of the last EMU trains crushed it to death. Police suspect that the deer could have strayed away from Raj Bhavan. The Raj Bhavan sits inside a sprawling green campus and has a sizeable deer population.

The animal was found on the South side of the station by the railway police force (RPF), who gave up trying to rescue it, as it seemed to have died on the spot. "It did not seem to breathe, it was like a carcass," said sub inspector Maharajan of the RPF. Police authorities, took the body back to the Saidapet station and handed it over to forest department officials on Friday morning.

The forest department did not confirm the possibility of a post mortem being done on the animal.

Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-03/chennai/39008024_1_railway-track-rpf-forest-department

9 deer hunters land in prison

Coimbatore : As many as nine persons were arrested by the Sirumugai Forest Range officials on the charges of hunting spotted deer inside the reserve forest using country guns early on Tuesday morning.

Around 5.30 am, the forest officials heard loud gun shots from the forest area. Subsequently, a team of  officials, suspecting it to be the handiwork of poachers, combed the Thattapallam  area inside Sirumugai reserve forest in the eastern slopes of the Nilgiris.

Following a half-hour -long search inside the forest, the officials came across the group of poachers.  The poachers had already killed some deer near the Bhavani deer and were dividing the meat, when the officials caught them.      

As much as 27 kg of spotted deer meat, including the hide and legs, were seized from them, the officials said. A country gun, a knife used by them to hunt the deer and seven two-wheelers were also seized.

The accused were identified as Devaraj (35), Ravi (43), Rangasamy (43), Dineshkumar (19), Muthusamy (19), Vijayakumar (19), Sakthivel (29) Murugesan (29) and Vijayakumar (28). All were residents of  Sittepalayam village near the Sirumugai forest who cultivated bananas on land   ranging between one to two acres. “They are not habitual hunters. This is the first time they committed such an offence, ” Sirumugai forest ranger C Dinesh Kumar said.

According to another official, “after their first two attempts failed, they shot the spotted deer on its stomach from a distance of 25 feet.”

All of them were booked under the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, and the Tamil Nadu Forest Act 1982  and they were subsequently remanded in the Coimbatore Central Prison.

Source: http://newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/article1451525.ece

33 spotted deer found dead in Kanha Tiger Reserve

PTI

Spotted deers

A total of 33 spotted deer were found dead under Ghorela ward in the Kanha Tiger Reserve since last week, forest officials said on Friday.

Kanha Tiger Reserve’s veterinary surgeon Sandeep Agrawal told reporters that 29 spotted deers were found dead between Jan 4-10 and four were found on Friday in the Ghorela ward under the Mukki forest area.

The preliminary cause of their death appears to be malnutrition, infection and severe cold, but the exact reason will be known only after a postmortem and viscera report.

The reserve management has enhanced measures to monitor the health and security of the wild animals. The viscera has been sent to the Jabalpur-based Veterinary College laboratory for testing.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/33-spotted-deer-found-dead-in-kanha-tiger-reserve/article4298503.ece