Strays give University of Hyderabad, deer a hard time

Hyderabad: Stray dogs of the University of Hyderabad seem to be developing a knack for hunting spotted deer for meat. Two deer were killed by stray dogs on the campus last week, a fawn on January 9 and an adult the next day. The adult deer survived the attack and was taken to the Hyderabad zoo where it died during treatment.

Till now, stray dogs have killed at least five deer on the university campus, including two last year.  There have also been attacks on othe animals like  monitor lizards and peacocks which are found in good numbers in the university. In 2014, a rabid dog had gone into a biting spree and injured about 30 students on the campus.

According to HCU security officials, while the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has been picking up stray dogs from the campus for sterilisation, the problem arises when it comes to releasing them. Many dogs which do not belong to the university are released in near the campus. Thanks to the damage at various spots on the compound wall; the dogs sneak into the university easily.

A university official said, Recently a lone deer had come out of the forests and was spotted lurking near the administrative building. Deer are a shy species and do not come out in the open so easily. The stray dogs are scaring them and pushing them outside the forest. We will discuss with the forest department if they can help us in some way to protect our wildlife.

Speaking to some students from the university revealed that some of the aggressive stray dogs try to attack humans too. Research scholar J. Ravi said, It is also to be blamed on students who shower love on the stray dogs and encourage them by providing food regularly and in some cases even take them to their rooms to pet them. Dogs can also be seen licking plates near the food court.

Wildlife vigilantes help fight poachers in UoH: A group of enthusiastic students is working to protect the wildlife on the Univesity of Hyderabad campus. The group, ‘Wild Lens’, which was formed in 2014, says it has nabbed about 60 poachers from the campus. In some cases, they were threatened by poachers living in villages  in the periphery of university.

Mr Jillapalli Ravi, a research scholar in animal sciences, who formed the group said, “The motive was to make students take active part in the protection of wildlife on the campus. Whenever we see someone suspicious on the campus, we inform the security pesonnel instantly.”

Karthik Jirra, a Wild Lens member, said, “The UoH campus is probably the only place which has free-ranging wild animals. We take pride in being part of the university and we believe that we should ensure that this last resort of wild animals is not taken away from them.” Wild Lens members are also wildlife photographers.

A picture on a chameleon taken by Mr Ravi was selected by the Telangana forest department for this year’s calendar. The group has organised bird walks on the campus with a city bird watchers NGO. The students plan to create awareness on snakes, after a security guard died of a snake bite recently.