Mass death of 31 deer in BHEL park shocks Tiruchy, poison feed suspected

The Puthayiram Poonga was established in the BHEL premises in 1980 and around 15 spotted deer were originally lodged in the park when it was established. At present, the fauna has expanded, with the number of spotted deer going up to 200, all maintained by the Forest Department, along with retired BHEL employees.

An official said that on Thursday, 17 deer suddenly lost consciousness and died with 10 more died in the same manner on Friday and four more on Saturday. Following the incident, officials from the Forest Department rushed to the spot and began their investigations. “As part of the primary investigation, we conducted autopsies on all the animals. We came to know that the BHEL management had recently changed the feed for the deer and without knowing how it would affect the animals, continued to feed them ‘Subabul’ (a local grass variety) for the past two weeks. According to the post-mortem report, this particular feed caused indigestion among the deer, leading to infection. This caused the deaths in massive numbers. We have started feeding pepper and salt mixed liquids to the other surviving deer,” said District Forest Officer of Tiruchy, D Sujatha.

She added that 185 deer currently live in the wild life park. A four-member veterinarian team from the Forest Department has been monitoring the deer. Since the caretakers had unknowingly changed the feed, no action is being taken against them.