Dangs must wait till 2015 for release of captive-bred deer

Delay in getting the second lot of deer for an NGO-run breeding centre led the release date to be extended. The ambitious project of an NGO – Nature Club Surat – of deer breeding and its

release into the jungles of Dangs by 2012 has been postponed by three more years. The release is now expected to happen only by 2015, as there has been some delay in the NGO getting the

transfer nod from the forest department. Deer rescued by the department also find a place at the centre. The deer breeding was the first-of-its-kind project to be taken up by an NGO in the

country. Though the project has the approval of the forest department, it is not funded by the department but is run on private funding. The NGO had come up with the deer breeding project so

that the animals could be later released in the wild thus helping in reducing man-animal conflict in the jungles of Dangs. Instances of leopards moving out of the jungle in search of food,

and attacking humans and livestock had prompted the NGO to come up with the project. “In the last three years alone 15 instances of leopard attack were reported in the area. Instances of

leopards entering fields are also being reported,” said Snehal Patel, member of the project monitoring committee. Project co-ordinator, Viral Prajapati said that the project began in 2010

and the deer were to be released by 2012. “But now the date has been postponed as we could not get the requisite number of deer to be bred. Initially in 2010, we got just a pair of deer from

Surat zoo. But then the entire process of getting another lot took a long time, delaying the release process. Recently we have got 21 deer and another lot of 30 deer is also expected,” said

Prajapati. The website of the NGO states that four varieties of ungulates namely spotted deer, four-horned antelope, barking deer and sambar will be bred under this project. All these

varieties were found earlier in this forest of Dangs, states the website. Prajapati said that at present they are looking at breeding spotted deer and four-horned deer.