Cuttack, Jan. 31: The civic administration is in a quandary over the overpopulated deer park run by the Cuttack Municipal Corporation at Madhusudan Nagar.

Six months ago, the Central Zoo Authority warned to shut down the park. But shifting excess deer has turned out to be a difficult task to handle.

Spread over 2 acres, the Madhusudan Nagar deer park, which has a maximum capacity to keep only 10 animals, has 50 deer at present. Regulations allowed three to five in an acre.

CZA member secretary B.R. Sharma made a surprise visit in the park last year and asked the CMC to institute vet rules and translocation of the excess animals immediately, while cautioning to cancel its status.

A senior CMC official, however, said the civic administration was already tapping probable locales where the excess deer could be rehabilitated as additional land adjacent to the park area was not available for expansion to accommodate them as per rules.

The civic administration has decided to come up with a second deer park in a much larger scale to accommodate the 40 excess animals at the deer park.

“An 8-acre plot has been identified for the purpose at Sector 11 of the Abinava Bidanasi Kataka, the satellite township developed by the Cuttack Development Authority (CDA). The civic body has sought formal hand over of the land for the deer park project as part of the city’s beautification,” the CMC official said.

Sources said the CMC, which owns the park, had not maintained the mandatory birth and death records and was least careful about veterinary care for the animals and quality fodder.

CZA officials had reportedly pointed out that the deer park, in its present provision, was not far from becoming scientifically unsafe for the residents of Madhusudan Nagar area. The animals are required to be sterilised, but proper healthcare was not done even after the recommendation. Unhygienic conditions in zoos are known to be fertile grounds for spread of a disease called zoonotics that can infect humans residing nearby.