Deer deaths: Case against zoo director

Ujjain, MP, Oct 24 (UNI) In the wake of ten deer mysteriously dying on Diwali night, the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has registered a case against a local privately-managed zoo's director for keeping animals without permission.

The herbivores perished at the Vikram Vatika zoo on Vikram University land.

''The case was registered under sections 38 and 39 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972,'' said the department's Sub-Divisional Officer D C Vyas.

After post mortem, the Wildlife Department sent the viscera to the Military Headquarters of War, near Indore, for analysis.

''Only after that it will be clear whether mutually-inflicted antler wounds caused the fatalities or there was some other cause.

The Vatika, on Vikram University land, was handed over to the municipality by the varsity and subsequently leased to the Bhadoria group, which began managing the place a decade back,'' said Mr Vyas.

Pointing out that a court issued a stay in an university versus corporation case, he added that a letter was sent earlier for shifting the animals to Bhopal.

UNI XC-AC 1623