Deer at the park in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, May 8: A second deer park will come up in Bhadimula here. The district administration has identified the location for another deer park to tackle the problem of over population in the existing deer park at Madhusudan Nagar.

Managed by the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), the Madhusudan Nagar deer park, which had come up in the 1980s, has 166 deer spread over two acres against the government regulation that permits three to five in an acre of land. Another 12 acres are required to accommodate the excess animals.

“We have chosen Bhadimula for the second deer park owing to availability of a vast tract of government land adjacent to a grass farm of the state veterinary and animal husbandry department there,” Cuttack collector Girish S.N. told The Telegraph today.

“As the land identified for the deer park is located along the banks of the Mahanadi, we will soon get it vetted by the irrigation department. We will then seek approval of the Central Zoo Authority before allotting the land to the CMC,” he said.

The search for a second home began in 2009 when officials of the Central Zoo Authority inspected the Madhusudan Nagar park and asked the CMC to translocate excess deer from there.

A corporation official said the second deer park was planned as part of the city’s beautification drive and also to accommodate the excess animals. Apart from creating living space for the animals, the project envisaged other recreational options. The civic body had decided to fund the investment out of its revenue earnings. “But the project did not take shape because of non-availability of land,” municipal commissioner Gyanaranjan Das told The Telegraph today.

The issue reached Orissa High Court when the tardy progress in relocation of excess deer at the existing park was raised before it.

“In May 2011, the bench directed the district administration to expedite the process of allotment of land for a second deer park by the CMC,” amicus curiae Pravat Ranjan Dash said.

Earlier, a 12-acre forest-category land was identified by the corporation in the vicinity of acres being developed by Cuttack Development Authority for residential purposes under plotted scheme at Bidanasi. Though the Cuttack Development Authority gave its nod, the forest department raised objections.

Subsequently, in April 2013, the then municipal commissioner Nihar Ranjan Mohapatra recommended scrapping of the second deer park project, citing non-availability of land. But the municipal council did not endorse it. “The deer park at Madhusudan Nagar should be shut down as it is cruel to keep the deer in such over populated captive conditions,” said Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of Wildlife Society of Odisha.