HYERABAD: The deer carcass found at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) on Sunday has put a spotlight on how the easy availability of air guns on the internet has emerged as a major threat the wildlife on various campuses.
Wildlife authorities say the deer population in the city is fast disappearing, thanks to an increase in attacks on them spurred by the sale of high velocity air rifles in various online sports stores.
"People import air guns on the pretext of use for sports.These are very effective for hunting deer, rabbits and peacocks," said Imran Siddiqui, wildlife biologist, Hyderabad tiger conservation society .
The population of deer in UoH, Osmania University , Satyam as well as other pock ets of the city is estimated to be around 600, down from 1,600 about four years ago. In the last two years, five cases of deer hunting were reported. What go unreported are many more. Apart from spotted deer, other wildlife too are under threat. "The deer killed in UOH was hunted for consumption of meat. Apart from deer, wild boar, peacocks and even rabbits are slaughtered," said M Bhupathi, sub-inspector, Gachibowli.
Though the UoH campus has an abundance of wildlife in certain pockets, there is no dedicated force to protect them. "We have around 200 security guards on campus and part of their duty is also to protect the wildlife. We will strengthen our security and also orient the guards to take poaching as a serious security issue. In the past too, students had complained of poachers roaming around in the campus and we ensured that they were nabbed. We are planning to upscale security ," said M Sudhakar, registrar of UoH.
