Hyderabad: Another male spotted deer was found dead on University of Hyderabad campus on Sunday, the second in less than a week.
Stray dogs chased two deer near the shooting range. “One of the deer tried to jump the wall to escape but hit the wall. The other deer escaped to the wooded area in the campus,” said PhD scholar and wildlife activist Rohit Kumar Bondugula.
This is the second incident of feral dogs killing deer on the campus. Earlier on December 22, a spotted deer was found dead.
The activist alleged that there is no protection to the state animal of Telangana. He said that the Forest Department and the university have utterly failed to protect the animals.
“There is a serious threat to the wildlife in the campus. If incidents continue at this alarming rate, the campus will no longer have any wildlife,” he said.
A male spotted deer was found dead near under-construction site of S.N. School on the campus on December 22. It was attacked by feral dogs.
Bondugula said that the excessive deforestation in campus leading to loss of habitat for wildlife. Loss of green cover is forcing animals to come in to open areas. As a result they are becoming prey in feral dog attacks and poaching, he said.
The activist demanded measures to control the growing population of dogs. He said there was need to sterilise the stray dogs and raise the height of the boundary walls to prevent feral dogs from entering the campus.
“We have witnessed several deaths of spotted deer, peafowl, wild boars, wild hares, monitor lizards, mongoose etc,” he said.
Rohit had earlier voiced concern over the threat to the biodiversity on the campus due to series of fire accidents
Many wild animals believed to have perished in two fires in May. The campus witnesses 6-7 fires every year.
The university campus spread over 2,500-3,000 acres, is home to several rare species of bird and wild animals like spotted deer, wild boar, monitor lizard and Asian palm civet.
