Anyone in Bangladesh who wants to keep deer as a hobby or on a commercial farm can buy them from the National Zoo in Mirpur, Dhaka. The zoo sells surplus spotted deer (chital) at 50,000 taka each, but only in pairs: one male and one female.
Zoo director Md Shahinur Alam said the zoo now has about 350 spotted deer. The does give birth every year, so numbers keep rising, and the zoo has no room for so many of one species. It sold 24 deer in 2024-25, 33 in 2025-26 and 15 so far this financial year.
Keeping deer is governed by the Deer and Elephant Rearing Rules issued by the environment and forest ministry in 2017. A person with up to 10 deer is a hobby keeper; more than 10 makes a farm. A farm needs a Forest Department licence, and even a hobby keeper needs a possession certificate for every deer.
Under the rules a deer shed must be at least 100 square feet and 10 feet high, with separate containers for grain feed, mineral salt and drinking water. Each deer needs at least 500 square feet of open ground, and the shed and yard must be enclosed by a fence at least 10 feet high. A farm must be at least 30 kilometres from any natural forest where deer live.
No one may buy, sell, give away or transfer a deer without the Forest Department's written permission, and deaths and births must be reported to it. The rules do not allow deer to be sold or eaten for meat; breaking them can lead to the deer being seized and the licence cancelled.
Zoo curator Md Habibur Rahman explained the process: first ask the zoo whether deer are available, then obtain Forest Department permission. Muhammad Golam Kaiyum of Nagarkanda, Faridpur, bought two deer this way; after he applied, forest officials inspected the place where he would keep them and issued a permit.
Deer can also be bought from licensed commercial farms. Shamsuddin of Muktagachha, Mymensingh, got his farm licence about a year and a half ago and now keeps 10 to 12 deer, each of which he sells with Forest Department permission.
Reported by Pradip Sarkar for Prothom Alo.
Photo: Brian Gratwicke / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Source: Prothom Alo
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