Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): With forest department officials failing to catch the three sambar deer on the loose at the Indira Gandhi Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) premises, the animals’ presence has stoked concerns about the safety of visitors.
The three sambar deer, one of them a female, have made IGRMS premises their home for the past two months. The forest department’s efforts to catch them have failed so far. It is not clear when and how the deer sneaked into the IGRMS campus.
Officials said that it is not clear whether the deer are from Van Vihar, which is adjacent to the museum, or from the forests around Prempura.
The IGRMS management has informed the forest department’s crack team, which rescues wild animals that have strayed into inhabited areas, about the deer on its campus. Personnel from the team have visited IGRMS many times and tried to herd the animals but their attempts have failed.
“The sambar deer are fully-grown adults. They are of the size of a small cow. There is a danger of them attacking visitors including children on the premises,” said IGRMS security officer Colonel Nitin Deshpande.
“Our premises are spread over 200 acres and it is difficult to catch animals from such a big area,” he added.
According to Deshpande, the Van Vihar has a large number of deer and when it rains the water of the Upper Lake touches the boundary of the National Park, herbivores, which are not kept in closed enclosures, can swim through the water to freedom.
It is not possible to determine whether they are from the Van Vihar or from the forests adjoining the IGRMS. Officials are also not ready to use tranquiliser guns on the animals as one of the sambar deer may be pregnant and there is a risk of the animal dying if tranquilised, Deshpande added.
