A nilgai has jumped the wall of the Safari Park in Gazipur and strayed into inhabited areas. Forest Department staff are searching Gazipur, Mymensingh and Tangail districts to bring the animal back, and announcements are being made by loudspeaker to alert local people and to ask that no one harm it.

Assistant Conservator of Forests Rafiqul Islam, officer in charge of the Safari Park in Gazipur, confirmed the escape on the evening of 20 January.

He said it is currently the nilgai breeding season, when one male fights another. On 16 January a male nilgai jumped over the park's old wall and fled into the surrounding area. Work began immediately to bring it back, but by then it had run off.

Rafiqul Islam said the search is under way in Sreepur in Gazipur, Seedstore and Batajor in Bhaluka, Mymensingh, and Madhupur in Tangail, with loudspeaker announcements in all these areas.

"On the morning of 18 January the nilgai was seen near Batajor Bazar in Mymensingh, and at around 5pm in Kalmegha in Sakhipur, Tangail. We searched that night but did not find it. On 19 January it was traced to Joynatoli in Sreepur upazila, next to the park. We reached it at once, but while we were setting up a cordon to catch it, dogs chased it and it ran away. It was located again at around 3.30am. Today we have found no trace of it," he said.

In 2021 another nilgai escaped from the same park. It was rescued from Madhupur in Tangail two months later and brought back.

According to the park authorities, the Safari Park had 11 nilgai; after the escape there are now 10. In 2019 four nilgai seized in different parts of the country were brought to the park, where they bred and increased the herd. Visitors to the park greatly enjoy seeing the nilgai.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.