BENGALURU: The city had a rare visitor on Monday. A black buck calf, sighted at P S Palya, Vidyaranyapura, was rescued by local residents and officials of the Karnataka forest department and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike forest cell.
A local resident sighted the calf first near a shed, and called the Vidyaranyapura police station. The police immediately called up the BBMP forest cell and rushed to the spot.Volunteers from the forest too arrived, only to find the animal under high stress and surrounded by locals. The animal, listed under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, was immediately rescued and rehabilitated to the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre at Bannerghatta Biological Park.
The forest cell volunteers said it is possible that someone had housed the calf and it escaped. “It looks like the handiwork of an organised illegal crime network. To discuss this issue, we are holding a meeting with Dr Ravindranath, ADG Police (Forest Cell),” said Manjunath Janakiram, wildlife activist.A few days ago, many peafowl feathers were seized in Vidyaranyapura.
Last year, peafowls were rescued from the locality. Activists said that the large green patches of defence land are home to peafowls, but not herbivores. The matter needs a thorough investigation from forest officials, they said.
Deputy Conservator of Forests, Bengaluru Urban, C Siddaramappa, said that the department is aware of the black buck rescue. “I have ordered for a thorough probe. I have been told that so far no arrest has been made. This will also be discussed with the police,” he said.
“The closest forest patch to Vidyaranyapura is Hessarghatta, which is 7-8 km away and it is not possible for a juvenile black buck to walk such a long distance. There are many questions which need to be answered,” Siddaramappa said.
He said that there are stray incidents of animals straying into human habitations from far off forest areas, like leopard at a school near Varthur, a herd of gaurs near Hosur Road a few months ago and elephants on Tumakuru Road. But this is strange, the forest officials said and added that informants have been put on alert.