Deer shot dead in Jodhpur

India: Villagers of Jaleli Champawata in Jodhpur district found two deer dead on Saturday morning. One of the animals had bullet wounds. The tracks of the animals showed that they had run at least about four km despite the wounds.

Ram Niwas, who leads a group called the Bishnoi Tiger Force, a group of youth from the Bishnoi community who volunteer to protect wildlife, said he received a call on his mobile phone from students headed to college in the morning. He said he reached the spot in half-an-hour despite being 50 km away, but was surprised to find that wildlife staff, located about 15 km of the spot, had not yet arrived.

Ram Niwas said local wildlife authorities seemed unclear whether the matter should be taken up by officials attached to the wildlife wing in the area or territorial wildlife staff.

The Bishnoi volunteers took the carcasses of the deer to the office of the district collector. District forest officer Mahender Singh said a post-mortem examination has been conducted, and the report is expected on Monday.

Singh told TOI, "One of the animals was shot. There were no bullet wounds on the other one. The local Bishnois have been protecting the animals in the area for generations, so we now have good presence of wildlife here even in revenue and agricultural lands. The herbivore population has been rising as there are no predators. These deer fall under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, and killing them is punishable with seven years in jail."

(Source: The Times of India)