Alipurduar June 17: An adult female swamp deer (barasingha) died of foot-and-mouth disease in Jaldapara National Park's enclosure yesterday, taking the toll to five in the past 15 days.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classifies swamp deer as "vulnerable".

Sumita Ghatak, the conservator of forest, wildlife, (north), said: "On May 29, a swamp deer had died of foot-and-mouth disease in the Jaldapara enclosure. After that, four more swamp deer have died of the disease. It is a water and air-borne ailment and we are spraying disinfectant around the enclosure to prevent the disease from spreading in the wild. There are 11 swamp deer now."

Earlier this year, the total number of swamp deer in the enclosure was 17. A couple of months ago, one of the animals had died of natural causes.

Foresters said they were giving medicines to the swamp deer to treat infections in both the foot and the mouth.

Medicine is being mixed with food and also water stored in a six-inch-deep tank in the enclosure. "The food is kept on the grass. Whenever an animal goes to take the food, it has to cross the water tank and the feet get the medicine. Because of the disease, the animals have infection in the mouth and throat and they can't take food normally. Because of the infection in the feet, they can't stand properly either," said a forester, adding that the disease mainly affected herbivores.

Records say swamp deer was last seen in its natural habitat around Jaldapara in 1954. The animals would frequently fall prey to poachers and in 1998, a captive breeding programme was introduced in Jaldapara to check its dwindling population. That year, two adult males, four females and a fawn were brought in from Lucknow Zoo. By 2006, almost all had died but four females and a male born here survived.

Swamp deer are not found anywhere else in the region.