As ‘enthusiastic’ crowds chased the animal to catch a glimpse – according to one official – for four hours, the already distressed animal began frothing at its mouth, a serious condition that requires immediate veterinary attention.
HYDERABAD: The ‘Yadadri’ gaur, which died on Friday after a rescue attempt went awry, is believed to have not eaten for two or three days, and had sunken eyes, and was severely dehydrated. As ‘enthusiastic’ crowds chased the animal to catch a glimpse – according to one official – for four hours, the already distressed animal began frothing at its mouth, a serious condition that requires immediate veterinary attention.
“Just in how bad a condition it was could not be seen from a distance as it was very wary and agitated and kept running away all the time,” one of the forest officials, who was part of the rescue operation said.
When a request was made to the police for help to control people, just two constables arrived. “There were some 50 to 60 youngsters chasing the gaur on bikes. Every time the animal tried to hide behind some bushes, it was chased out. And there was enormous pressure to catch it with villagers expressing fear that the gaur could hurt them if it came into the village,” one of the officials said.
While no official order appears to have been given to use tranquillisers to capture the gaur, the only instruction that came was reportedly from the chief wildlife warden for ‘safe capture’ of the animal.
The decision to tranquillise the gaur that reached Chinnakondur in Choutuppal mandal near Hyderabad, was taken on Thursday. Prior to this, the plan was to allow the animal to move away safely to a less populated area, and eventually goad it to go back to the forest where it came from, possibly the Pakhal or Eturunagaram wildlife sanctuaries not far from Yadadri district where the gaur was first found on January 30.
“But then there were apprehensions that it would go and move towards Musi river and towards Hyderabad. So on Thursday, it was decided to capture it,” an official said.
In a video clip that surfaced later the animal was seen running away with people shouting in the background, and in another clip, it was seen arriving at the top of a hillock with voices, asking if it should be beaten and driven in another direction as it could fall off the hill side even as the gaur could be seen to be doddering with the tranquilliser taking effect.
According to Dr Hakeem, a senior wildlife veterinarian and deputy director of the Nehru Zoological Park, forest officials did everything they could to safely capture the gaur. “Crowd control was a huge problem, they kept chasing it for almost four hours. Our instructions to all were clear, once tranquillised, let the animal be. And once it comes to a rest, then capture it safely. We kept requesting people too but none listened, kept chasing it, even up and down the hillocks,” he said.
Meanwhile, officials said the NZP vet, Dr Shahnawaz, who was admitted to hospital from injuries after the gaur charged at him on Thursday evening, has been discharged and returned home and was advised 15 days of rest.
