After giraffe, two deer die at Delhi zoo

A day after a giraffe died in a freak accident at the National Zoological Park, two female Indian Brow-Antlered deer died on Thursday after the antlers of a male deer injured them.

A day after a giraffe died in a freak accident at the National Zoological Park, two female Indian Brow-Antlered deer died on Thursday after the antlers of a male deer injured them.

HT Image

“The deer stay in herds and are unpredictable. There was a ferocious conflict between few animals when the antlers of a male hit two females. These died of grievous injury,” said zoo director AK Agnihotri.

Belonging to a species called Sangai deer (cervus eldii eldii), the deer figure in the Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act —putting them in the list of endangered animals.

Meanwhile, the post-mortem examination of the giraffe that died on Wednesday confirmed its death due to neck injury. However, the zoo administration also set up an inquiry to look into the exact cause of the death of the giraffe and how it happened. The giraffe, three years and 10 months old, had died after it stuck its neck in a y-shaped branch in an attempt to eat twigs and branches.

As a precautionary measure, officials have decided to cut off similar y-shaped branches. “This was first-of-its-kind accident in the zoo. With an aim to avoid such incidents in future, we plan to cut off or trim similar y-shaped branches,” said Riaz Khan, zoo’s curator (education).