An antelope was found shot dead in forests of Surewal village here today. Villagers came across the dead animal at around 4 am. Activists from an NGO, People For Animals (PFA), also reached the spot. District president of the PFA Shiv Kumar Sharma said poaching had been going on in the area for quite sometime. He added that the organisation had duly informed the Wildlife Department about the issue, but the department never initiated any action. He claimed that this was the third time a wild animal was shot dead. Earlier, two such incidents had come to light.

He said the villagers had informed the department at 4 am itself, but no official reached the spot. He added that the owner of the gun, with which the animal was shot, could be traced from its bullet found in the animal’s body.

Villagers said the poachers might have hunted the antelope for its horns that were worth Rs 7,000 in the market. After the animal was shot, it ran towards the village and died on the periphery area. But since the antelope was around three quintals in weight, the poachers could not pick it up and left it.

Villagers apprised forests and wildlife preservation minister Tikshan Sud of the issue, who assured them of action against the erring officials. Later in the afternoon, Wildlife Department official H.S. Gujral sent an inquiry team to the spot. The antelope’s postmortem was also conducted.