The Alipore Zoological Garden may be far away and the Wild Animal Rescue and Transit Facility Centre near Baisakhi, in Salt Lake, out of bounds. But residents of the twin townships will get a chance to view a variety of deer in the open once the deer park in Eco Tourism Park opens on Friday afternoon.

The inauguration will be done by chief minister Mamata Banerjee remotely from Kshudiram Anushilan Kendra at 5pm.
The idea to have a deer park in Eco Park was mooted by her on one of her visits to the park. Banerjee had wanted the animals to roam freely on the island in the middle of the 104-acre water body.

But plans were already afoot to build cottages and a restaurant on the island so a plot near Gate 6 of the park was chosen as the site.

While Hidco has constructed the required infrastructure needed to house the deer and is the custodian of the land, the forest department holds operational control of the park.

Visitors intending to visit the park will have to show the counterfoil of the Eco Park ticket at the gates to gain entry. If someone wants to visit the park first, before Eco Park, the Hidco authorities are planning to provide security guards at the gates with a ticket book.

“There are strict guidelines set by the Central Zoo authority for constructing parks that can house wild animals. We have built this deer park adhering to these guidelines and in consultation with the wildlife wing of the forest department,” said Debashis Sen, the chairman and managing director of Hidco.

“We are happy that Hidco has built a deer park. This park is bigger than the Nature Park  in Taratala and will be a boon for the animals as they will have more space to move around. We intend to work with Hidco and develop this park into one of the best-kept parks in the state,” said Pradeep Shukla, the chief wildlife warden of West Bengal. 
According to forest department sources, the Central Zoo Authority has revoked the licence of the Taratala Nature Park recently. So the animals lodged there have been transported to the deer park.

The 12-acre park has been divided into four fenced enclosures. In one, four male and six female spotted deer, which were the first to arrive on February 10 from the Nature Park, have been kept. In the adjacent enclosure, there are six barking deer which followed soon after, on February 19, from the Alipore Zoological Garden. On Monday, 40 more deer joined from the Nature Park. 

The herd has already witnessed an addition. On February 15, around 4.30 pm, a female spotted deer gave birth to a fawn. “We were warned not to go anywhere close as the mother would reject the baby if it smelt of human touch. Within three hours, it was running about,” beamed the park officials. 

The deer park will be manned by retired foresters who have had previous training in handling deer and are well-versed in their habits. Part-time veterinary doctors will also be on call to take care of them. 

For now, two keepers have been called in from the mini zoo at Gorchumuk, Uluberia, to train the personnel at the park. “We are feeding them grass, beans, carrots, gram and husk twice a day,” they said.

Keepers’ worries

According to Satyananda Das, who retired as a deputy conservator of forests, the authorities face an uphill task in ensuring the deer’s well-being. The vicinity around a deer park has to be a noise-free and litter-free area, he said. The park is about two minutes off the Major Arterial Road by car. 

Currently each enclosure has a thatched structure that has concrete flooring as also an artificial shallow pond. Other than that, the entire area is barren, a fact that has got the keepers worried. Deer generally eat in one place and rest and ruminate elsewhere under shades of trees. During summers, they prefer to sit on wet ground near waterbodies.

“The authorities must do away with the concrete flooring of the shaded areas. Either they can break the surface away or put several layers of soil on top of the concrete floor and water it regularly,” Das said.

The deer should also be kept away from human contact as much as possible. Plastic packets are deadly for them as they can get lodged in their intestines and cause a painful death if not immediately operated upon.

Some forest officials are also apprehensive about keeping a weak-hearted animal like deer near a popular park.

“They are highly sensitive animals. They get startled easily and can easily have a heart attack and die if someone shouts loudly or a car blows its horns. Deer are also known to die in captivity after trying to run on getting alarmed by a disturbance and colliding with the net of their enclosure,” said a forest department official, who did not wish to be named.

The animals will be allowed to rest once the sun sets. “There are no lights at the park, so we are planning to allow access till about 5pm,” Sen said.

Despite the challenge, the forest department is upbeat that the deer now have a better home than before.

“We have transported so many deer from Taratala to New Town without any mishaps. This by itself is a tough task as they are extremely sensitive animals. Some shades are already in place and we will request Hidco for more sun shades as the summer has already arrived,” said a senior official of the forest department’s wild life wing.

However, some officials wonder why the animals were herded in before the enclosures were ready.

“The deer should have been moved in after everything was in place. There was no need to hurry and we hope that none of the animals go into shock because of the ongoing construction work there and die,” said a forest department official.

Sources said the rush might have been caused by apprehensions of the announcement of the Assembly elections by the Election Commission, after which the model code of conduct will bar inauguration of all new projects.