Feral dog attacks on wildlife on the rise in East Sikkim

DOG ATTACK FATALLY WOUNDS BARKING DEER
GANGTOK, 07 May: An adult male Barking Deer which was wounded in an attack by feral dogs in Aritar above Rhenock in East Sikkim yesterday, died today while it was being brought to the Himalayan Zoological Park here at Bulbulay for treatment.
Speaking to NOW! today, the Range Officer of Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary informed that on 06 May at around 11 P.M. about 05 to 06 feral dogs attacked a Barking Deer in the forest near Aritar in Rongli. The deer then strayed out of the forest where some locals and Forest officials rescued it and managed to save it from being further injured by the dogs.
“Yesterday being a Sunday, we could not take it to the veterinary clinic immediately, so today, at around 6 A.M. we brought the animal to the Veterinary Hospital in Rhenock, where it was treated,” said the RO and added that after treatment the animal was being transported to the Zoo at Bulbulay to be looked after and for further treatment. Unfortunately, the deer succumbed to its wounds [the deer had bite marks on the neck and on the legs] while being brought from Aritar to Gangtok, he added.
Speaking to NOW! Divisional Forest Officer [DFO], Wild Life [East] Ravi Kumar informed that in the past one week, reports of feral dogs attacking Barking Deers and other animals has risen in the state, with most of the reports coming from the East District.
“It is very unfortunate that we could not save the animal that was rescued yesterday as it had fatal bites to its neck,” he added.
“These dogs are left by the people once they start to multiply keeping the new ones and getting rid of the old. Then these dogs roam around in packs. We cannot get rid of them but we can bring down their population by capturing them and sterilizing them,” said the DFO and added that they had set up such a camp at the Kyangnosla Wildlife Sanctuary along with WWF and SARAH.
These dogs either have rabies or some other disease so when an animal is attacked by them, most of the time the animal dies because of the injuries, he stated. “This is just one such camp we are starting where we plan to capture the stray dogs and sterilize them so that we can atleast save the animals if they are bitten and also to bring down the population of the stray dogs”, he added.
He further informed that some animals such as Leopard Cats and Civet Cats were also being killed in accidents. These animals sometimes stray on to roads in the night and get blinded by the lights of the on coming vehicles and do not move away and thus fall prey to road accidents, added the DFO [WL, East].
He further appealed to the people to inform the Forest Department or concerned officials if they do spot or hear of such attacks on animals in their vicinity, so that evasive and prompt action can be taken by the department to save the animal.