Sambar strays into Jalandhar city, rescued

Aparna Banerji
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, November 23

A sambar strayed into the city area on Monday. The animal was caught by a team of the Forest Department after two hours of struggle. It was released in the jungles, near Chauhal Dam, here this evening.

The sambar was first spotted at Govind Avenue, following which PCR teams alerted forest teams. It subsequently moved to Kishanpura, New Prthivi Nagar and a host of other area before finally rescue at Santokhpura.

A hoax call of a tiger straying into the Goraya belt also caused an interruption as some of the team members were diverted to the area, but did not find any animal.

Notably, with contracting jungles and rampant construction projects in the hills, the city has seen very frequent sambar sightings this season. In this month alone 15 to 20 sambars have strayed inside the city area. The police also expressed helplessness due to repeated chaos with sambars frequently straying in.

While the alarmed sambar hopped from factory to street to residential areas, a cautious and anxious set of team officials and residents were seen trying to haul a blue net over it in a desperate attempt to catch it.

Minor confrontations also ensued at several spots where a cornered animal barged into the crowds with its burly antlers in an attempt to free itself. It hopped over doors windows and high walls escaping to the next locality until forest officials were finally able to rescue it at Santokhpura.

SHO of the Rama Mandi police station said, “Every other day we get a call. It is a huge diversion. Too many sambars have been straying into the city recently. However, PCR teams called forest officials and they eventually caught it.”

Jaswant Singh, Range Officer, Wildlife, Jalandhar and Kapurthala, said, “There have been 15 to 20 events of sambars straying into Jalandhar this month alone. A hoax call regarding a tiger from Goraya sighting also diverted our attention today. But eventually the forest teams caught the animal after a two-and-a-half hour struggle. The animal was not tranquilised as it might have caused it harm. It was simply caught and rescued in a net and released near Chauhal.”