Goatherd rescues young spotted deer near Arakkonam

Rescued spotted deer found with goats in Melpakkam village, handed over to forest officials for safe release.

A one-month-old male spotted deer was rescued by a goatherd after the animal came along with goats in the shed of her house at Melpakkam village near Arakkonam town in Ranipet on Wednesday.

Forest officials said that K. Pachaiammal, 68, a goatherd in Melpakkam village, took 20 goats to the outskirts of the village for grazing on Tuesday. She came in late in the evening. As she went to keep water for the animals, Pachaiammal noticed a young spotted deer in the herd. “Pachaiammal was nervous after she found the animal. As he was young, the spotted deer would have gone along with goats to her house,” R. Saravanan Babu, forest range officer (Arcot), told The Hindu.

Panchaiammal went to Melpakkam railway station where she told the incident to Station Master (SM) S. Gautum, who advised her to hand over the animal to forest authorities. As she did not know any forest officials, she handed over the spotted deer to the Station Master. Rescued animal was safely taken care of at the Station master’s cabin in the railway station.

On Wednesday, Mr. Gautum handed over the animal to a forest team led by G. Duraimurugan, forester. Later, the animal was safely released in Banavaram reserve forest (RF) near Arakkonam.

Forest officials said that Melpakkam village is located on the fringes of two reserve forests (RFs) namely Banavaram and Ammoor RFs along Palar river. The area is a habitat for spotted deer as hundreds of them have been spotted by the forest team during routine patrolling. Residents, who are mostly farmers and wage labourers, were sensitised by forest officials to save wild species from stray dogs and poaching and advised them to alert forest officials.