A spotted deer that came out of the Gangaikondan Spotted Deer Sanctuary in search of food and water was fatally knocked down by a speeding unidentified vehicle on the Madurai – Tirunelveli 4-lane national highway on Sunday night.

When a spotted deer that came out of the Gangaikondan Spotted Deer Sanctuary on the Madurai – Tirunelveli four-lane national highway tried to cross the road at Thaazhaiyooththu on Sunday midnight, it was fatally knocked down by an unidentified vehicle. The passers-by, who removed the carcass from the road, informed the Thaazhaiyooththu police.

Following information from the police, the forest personnel took the carcass to the sanctuary where the autopsy was conducted before burying it.

The public said that the height of the wall along the Madurai -Tirunelveli four-lane national highway should be increased, besides reconstructing the damaged portions of this wall. Moreover, the height of the fence on the other three sides should also be increased while taking due steps for creating sufficient fodder base and drinking water within the 288-hectare sanctuary.

Though over 600 spotted deer were living in the reserve forest of Gangaikondan and its surroundings for several decades, late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa declared it as a sanctuary for spotted deer only in 2013. As per the forest department records, the 288.40 hectares of reserve forest in Gangaikondan (Part I) had 196 spotted deer and 107 animals were living in 152.72 hectares in Gangaikondan (Part II). The Thaazhaiyooththu reserve forest with 565 hectares was home for 212 spotted deer in the year 2020. These forests have only acacia, thorny bushes.

While Part I and II areas collectively form the actual sanctuary, around which fence and wall have been erected, railway track passes along the eastern boundary of the sanctuary, the Tirunelveli – Madurai four-lane national highway is 30-feet away from western side of the sanctuary with damaged wall through which the animals can easily come out only to be killed on the road or hunted down by the stray dogs.

Forest department officials said that anti-poaching watchers had been deployed in the sanctuary to draw water from nearby SIPCOT Industrial Growth Centre to fill-up eight tanks every day to quench the thirst of spotted deer. Moreover, water was being drawn from the wells inside the sanctuary to be filled-up at regular intervals in the tanks meant for the animals.

To tap the groundwater for saving the spotted deer, the forest department is now in the process of installing a solar-powered motor and constructing a tank to store the water to be pumped by this ₹6.40 lakh-worth pump.

Department of Forest is also growing fodder on four plots which was being nourished by sprinklers installed in these plots, said the forest personnel.