Patiala deer park staff step up vigil to protect animals

Staff of the Patiala deer park has gone into an overdrive to protect the animals housed there in the wake of death of about 30 black buck in Bathinda last month.

Staff of the Patiala deer park has gone into an overdrive to protect the animals housed there in the wake of death of about 30 black buck in Bathinda last month.

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The staff is busy taking all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of its animals, including about 120 black buck and more than 100 spotted and hog deer.

The iron pillars around the enclosures of antlers are being repaired, and two more guards have been employed apart from the only one that looked after the zoo.

"We have been working continuously for the last six days. We have been told not to take leave till the renovation work is over," said Rakesh Kumar, an employees at the park that is situated on the city outskirts.

Kumar said that the security has been beefed up around the four enclosures of black buck. "A guard is doing the rounds of the park during the night as well," he said.

The security guards have been told not to allow any stray animals on the zoo premises.

Around 30 black buck, including 25 doe, most of which were pregnant, had died after a stray dog entered their enclosure in the deer park in Bathinda on April 27. Most antlers died due to brain hemorrhage and trauma following the stampede, said the autopsy report.

Black buck is the state animal of Punjab and covered under Schedule 1 of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.