15 Deer Mauled To Death By Stray Dogs At Chhattisgarh Rescue Park; 4 Officials Suspended
Sources said that the gates of the deer enclosure in the park had been left open inadvertently leading the stray dogs from the nearby forest to enter it on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday and then killed the animals.
Raipur: Fifteen deer, including two endangered four-horned antelopes, were mauled to death by stray dogs in the Sanjay Rescue Park in Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh’s Surguja district, officials said on Sunday.
The incident came to light on Sunday when the forest officials spotted the carcasses of 15 deer in their enclosure in the park, a forest officer said.
Sources said that the gates of the deer enclosure in the park had been left open inadvertently leading the stray dogs from the nearby forest to enter it on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday and then killed the animals.
Surguja divisional forest officer (DFO) Abhishek Jogawat has confirmed deaths of the animals and attributed the cause of their deaths to dog bites.
The slain animals included two endangered four-horned antelopes, seven spotted deer and six barking deer, according to wildlife activist Nitin Singvi.
According to Mr. Jogawat, a three-member probe team headed by Ambikapur sub-divisional officer (SDO) (forest) has been constituted to go into details of the incident and submit its report.
In a related development, four forest officials were suspended in connection with the incident.
The suspended forest officials were local deputy ranger Ashok Sinha, forest guards Mamta Porte and Pratima Lakda and forest staff member Bindu Singh.
Ambikapur ranger Akshapak Rishi has been served show cause notice, sources said.
