Assam: Endangered Muntjac deer rescued in Dhubri

Dhubri: In the wee hours of Wednesday, a villager from Lalkura village under Gauripur Police Station of Dhubri district rescued a highly endangered Muntjac deer also known as barking deer.   

As per sources, Narayan Roy on his routine visit to his firm saw a deer which was stuck by his head in a bamboo fence of his paddy field, wasting no time the village man Narayan Roy with the help of other villagers managed to nab the deer and informed the local forest personnels.

Meanwhile, villagers gathered in mass to take a glimpse of the majestic creature of nature which is native to Asia and can be found in India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Indonesian islands, Taiwan and Southern China.

Moreover, a team of forest department led by Jibesh Roy, Gauripur Beat Forest Officer and Bashbari Forest officials reached the village in Lalkura and recovered the deer. The Muntjacs (Barking deer) was about 4 to 5 years old male weighing between 14 to 15 kgs and was in a good health condition, due to lack of food and water the deer came out from Rupshi Reserve Forest, Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD), informed Roy.

Later, the rescued deer were released deep into the Rupshi Reserve Forest by Gauripur and Bashbari Forest personnels.

The small barking deer of Southern Asia is well-known for fascinated researchers and biologists.

Especially due its range of species and evolutionary history, this tribe of small deer, called the muntjacs, are often under the attention of scientists.

It is one of the oldest known species of deer, and can answer many questions about deer evolution and evolution of other herbivores. However, not much is known about this deer due to its late discovery in the 90’s.