Sambar strays into city, hit by car, dies

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 13 

A sambar, who strayed into the city, died after being hit by a vehicle at the Sector 3/4/9/10 roundabout today. 

Passersby gathered at the spot and informed the UT Forest and Wildlife Department. A team of the department took it to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Sector 38 here.

The sambar dashed into one of the vehicles while crossing the road at around 6.30 am.  Simar Onkar, a resident of Sector 38, who was returning from walk at Sukhna Lake, said he saw morning walkers, joggers, and cyclists cordoning the place where the animal was lying injured so that it does not get startled or some passing vehicle harmed it further. “A policeman and policewoman on duty called in their colleagues to manage the traffic and kept curious onlookers at a distance,” he said. 

Onkar added, “A few of us, a policeman and two cyclists kept frantically trying the numbers of those we knew or whom we thought could be of help in saving the animal. A few veterinary doctors we manage to contact declined to help, citing some reasons.”

After sometime, people managed to contact the Forest and Wildlife Department, following which a team reached the spot and rushed the injured sambar to the SPCA centre in a truck.

Wildlife officials said the animal succumbed to the injuries at the centre. Onkar said there was a need for a fully-equipped rescue van with a veterinary first-aid specialist to ferry injured animals.