migrated deer in Harlem dies due to stress !!

It would surprise a visitor and some residents may not even be aware, that the city of Chennai houses a deer park in the middle.  It is the Guindy National park, established in 1976 ranging 2.82 Km2. The park is an extension of the grounds surrounding Raj Bhavan, formerly known as the ‘Guindy Lodge’, the official residence of the Governor of Tamil Nadu.  The National park has various vegetation zones mainly tropical dry evergreen flora and is home to  spotted deer, black bucks and many other animals too.  Cyclone Vardah wrecked havoc on the green lung of the city, felling trees everywhere.  Reports suggest that the Vandalur Zoo and the Guindy National Park present a picture of devastation with hundreds of trees uprooted inside. 

Miles away, a white-tailed deer that went from being a minor celebrity in Harlem to a cause célèbre after its capture – is in the midst of some not so happy ending !

The man facing criticism is - Bill de Blasio,  the 109^th  mayor of New York City. From 2010 to 2013, he held the citywide office of New York City public advocate. Manhattan is the most densely populated borough of New York City, its economic and administrative center, and the city's historical birthplace. Mayor de Blasio on Friday refused to stay the execution of a deer that wandered into Manhattan — saying it would be more humane to kill it because relocation would lead to a long, traumatizing death. “There’s no other option,” the mayor insisted on WNYC radio, rejecting Gov. Cuomo’s offer to try to safely relocate the deer. The deer isn’t injured, but de Blasio said the process of moving it would be too “traumatizing” and lead to “all sorts of extended pain” because the deer wouldn’t be able to adapt to a new environment.

The animal-rights lovers  were quick to blast the mayor.  The one in news is a deer that swam across the East River to Manhattan in a vain bid to find a mate and then was living  in a park in Harlem for weeks; was given a reprieve from a death sentence.  The wayward buck was set to be put to death after galloping merrily for weeks around a housing complex.   The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, tweeted : 'We want to do everything we can to save the deer. We have told the city that the feds or we can transport it upstate today.' ;  while reports suggested that the Mayor felt there was 'no other option' but to euthanize the deer.

That was not to be a firm position ~ as the Mayor later relented.  The deer was guessed to have swum across from the Bronx, which is attached to the mainland. Some plans were on to transport it to Newyork.  The deer was first spotted earlier this month in a copse in Jackie Robinson Park and has been living there ever since.  The State position was that  euthanization was the preferred route, as it was felt unsafe to relocate deer.

~ ~ ~  and  .. then the  deer died, presumably due to the considerable amount of stress it had experienced in a short period. The preliminary causes of death, according to a New York City parks spokesman, were stress and the day and a half that the deer spent at a city animal shelter in East Harlem.

Now more people are talking about the deer and the way it was treated !!!  -  the East River is a salt water tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

17^th Dec 2016.