The wildlife authorities have completed the translocation of a herd of 37 deer from the Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (NFCL) in Kakinada to the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) in Andhra Pradesh.
The authorities had undertaken a mission to translocate 200 deer after the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) recently revoked its licence to the NFCL to operate a deer park on its premises citing lack of maintenance and budget challenges.
“We had captured 37 deer from the park by February 16 and shifted them to the NSTR the following day. The herd was transported by road as per the wildlife conservation protocol,” said Kakinada District Forest Officer S. Bharani.
Led by Ms. Bharani, NSTR veterinarian Aaron Wesley and the veterinarians of the zoological parks in Visakhapatnam and Tirupati were engaged for capturing the deer through the ‘boma structure’ that had been built on the NFCL premises.
“The park is home to about 200 deer. The translocation mission is still in progress. All precautions are being taken to capture the deer without causing them any harm,” said Ms. Bharani.
This is said to be a major wildlife translocation mission in the recent years in Andhra Pradesh.