A deer that strayed from a border forest into a settlement in Kalmakanda upazila of Netrokona was caught by local people. It was then recovered by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Lengura BOP, and released into the forest by the local forest department and volunteers of the voluntary organisation Save the Animals of Susang.
Locals said the deer was found next to Shishir Marak's house in the Taranagar area of Lengura union at around noon on Thursday, 13 June. On receiving the news, BGB took the deer away. In the evening the forest department and volunteers took charge of it from BGB, and that night it was released in a deep forest in Durgapur.
How the deer was caught
According to local and BGB sources, some local young men spotted the deer by the Ganeshwari river in Taranagar and chased it. After a long chase, one of them caught it and took it home. A patrol team from the Lengura BOP of 31 BGB then saw the animal, recovered it and took it to their camp. Hearing of this, a local voluntary organisation working to protect the environment and wildlife began efforts to recover it.
After contacting the forest department's special wildlife crime control unit, they recovered it from BGB that night. However, BGB did not disclose the name or address of the person from whom its members recovered the deer, or how it entered the settlement. The barking deer was then released that night inside a forest called Gopalpur in the border upazila of Durgapur.
Local volunteers and the forest department said that although various snakes and monkeys stray into settlements because of deforestation, food shortages and other reasons, no tiger or deer had ever come in through Kalmakanda or Durgapur. Volunteers recently rescued a critically endangered pangolin, and it is thought such animals are caught while being smuggled.
Anisul Haque Sumon, joint general secretary of Save the Animals of Susang, said that after receiving the news they rescued the barking deer in a joint operation with local forest officials, and after first aid released it immediately into the deep forest.
Dewan Ali, Durgapur range officer of the forest department, said they rescued the deer together with volunteers of Save the Animals of Susang and released it into the forest.
Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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