deers of Chennai ... collision and translocation plan ...

Chennai is bursting at seams with the ever increasing traffic and at places there are stray cattle which are the menace …. Surprisingly in the concrete jungle, there still exist some places where one can spot deers in Chennai.   With an explosion in the population of spotted deer or chital and limited green cover, the animals are straying out of their natural habitat and into danger on the streets.  Guindy National Park (GNP) the only national park within city limits, has  more than thousand spotted deer and hundreds of black bucks. As the foliage reserve in the park is insufficient for the animals, the deer often stray outside in search of food.

A deer-vehicle collision occurs when one or more deer and a human-operated vehicle collide on a roadway. It can result in deer fatality, property damage, and human injury and/or death. In 2000, of the 6.1 million lightweight motor vehicle collisions reported in the US, 1 million involved animal-vehicle collisions. Over there, deer–vehicle collisions lead to about 200 human deaths and $1.1 billion in property damage every year.  Deers are not entirely at fault. Habitat fragmentation occurs when humans encroach the natural habitats of animals. As human beings live in closer proximity to animals they are more likely to encounter one another. Because highways are isolated points of fragmentation, deer wander about them freely because they see little to stay away from.

In 2011, in Chennai, as part of the Metro Rail construction, the Forest Department  translocated 40 spotted deer from the Poultry Research Station at Nandanam, claiming it to be the first successful change of location of deer in the country. The deer were translocated to Aringar Anna Zoological Park and Guindy National Park, as a metro railway station was planned at the Nandanam campus.  A recent report in The Hindu states that sighting spotted deer on the Anna University campus, or in Kotturpuram, Adambakkam and other residential localities will soon become a thing of the past. Thanks to the efforts of wildlife authorities, deer found outside protected areas such as Guindy national park and the campuses of Raj Bhavan and IIT-Madras will be translocated.

A senior wildlife officer said these free-ranging deer fed on garbage dumped by people and, in some areas, were fed by residents. They were also exposed to the danger of being bitten by community dogs. In light of these issues, the authorities have decided to translocate them, the officer said. An estimated 300 spotted deer are found outside protected areas in a total of 30 locations within the city limits, identified by wildlife authorities. Guindy Industrial Estate, Indra Nagar, Thillai Ganga Nagar, Adambakkam, Tambaram Railway Colony, Kannagi Nagar, Velachery and Kotturpuram are some of them. A proposal to translocate the deer was sent to the government sometime ago, and it issued an order a couple of days ago, sources in the wildlife department said. A sum of Rs. 44.73 lakh has been sanctioned for the work, which began last week and would be completed by March next year, said a senior wildlife officer.

Explaining the process involved in translocating the deer, authorities said they had decided not to use chemical tranquilisers to trap the deer. Instead, a cage would be set up with feed inside.

For nearly a fortnight, authorities would provide feed inside the enclosure. Once the deer gets accustomed to eating the food kept in the enclosure, the animal would be trapped in it and transported to the protected areas. Trapped deer would be translocated to Guindy National Park, Vandalur zoo, Vandalur reserved forest and other nearby forest areas, according to authorities. Already, officials have translocated nearly 60 deer from the Ekkatuthangal, Kotturpuram and Madhya Kailash areas on a trial basis, they added.

On a web search a newsitem in www.northlandsnewscenter.com revealed that Minnesota drivers odds for colliding with deer were  declining,  according to new claims data from State Farm Insurance.  The odds drivers will hit a deer in Minnesota are 1 in 88 and is ranked 8th in the country for the most deer collisions compared to 6th last year. The months a driver is most likely to collide with a deer in Minnesota, mostly due to mating and hunting seasons are June, October, and November.  In Hawai, it is reported to be : One in 10,281. Illinois drivers are less fortunate. Their odds are 1 in 211, a slight increase from last year, but better than the national average of 1 in 169. In West Virginia it is 1 in 39. Another report in Chicago Tribune states that traffic fatalities drop 30 percent in Illinois.  To avoid becoming a statistic, among other actions it is recommended that drivers use high beams at night when no oncoming traffic is present and slow down — not swerve — when spotting a deer. Also remember that deer typically travel in groups.

The deer whistle is the most widely studied and scrutinized form of deer-vehicle collision prevention method. Deer whistles are products that attach to a vehicle and act as an alarm system for deer and other wildlife. The manufacturing of deer whistle products has emerged into a multimillion-dollar industry. Their manufacturers advertise that ultrasound, which they say deer can hear but humans cannot is emitted as air passes through the whistle; they are  designed to be attached to the bumper of a vehicle. When a vehicle moves faster than 35 mph, a whistle sound is induced which is believed to ward off animals from a roadway.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

19^th Sept. 2014.