Virus kills five spotted deer in IVRI zoo

Bareilly Five ‘cheetals’ (spotted deer) have died here at the mini zoo located inside the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in the past week due to the

Bareilly Five ‘cheetals’ (spotted deer) have died here at the mini zoo located inside the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in the past week due to the spread of an infectious disease known as pasteurella canis. The deaths have galvanised the IVRI experts into taking preventive measures to check the spread of the bacteria for which there is no vaccine as yet.

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“We have restricted entry of visitors to the zoo and are administering antibiotics to the animals and the situation is under control now,” said IVRI Director RK Singh.

The zoo has a total population of 66 spotted deer which includes 35 cheetals, 19 black bucks and 12 hog deer. Their number has now been reduced to 61 with the recent deaths which included four males and one female deer.

Experts suspect the disease was spread by stray dogs. They said pasteuralla multocida was common among cattle while pasteuralla canis was found among wild animals. Unlike pasteuralla multocida, no vaccine is currently available for pasteuralla canis.