Overgrown ox/buffalo in Yadadri district turns out to be a Gaur
A rare Indian bison was spotted in Pallerla, Telangana, leaving officials puzzled about its origins and movement
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Hyderabad: For the past two days, those who saw a large animal thought it was an ill-tempered oversized buffalo or an ox that had strayed into their village, and was not letting anyone approach it.
On Thursday, people in Pallerla in Atmakur mandal of Yadadri-Bhongir district discovered that their village hit the endangered wildlife map of India when forest department officials, following up on reports on the uncommon looking bovine, went to check on the animal and found that it was an Indian bison or the gaur.
“We have no idea as of now where this one came from,” a forest department official told Deccan Chronicle. “There is no forest anywhere in a 45-50 km radius. Where there are forest areas, they are not home to the gaur.”
The uncommon visitor is now being monitored and its movements tracked from a safe distance as the gaur is apparently in no mood to tolerate any disturbance in the private eucalyptus plantation where it was discovered.
Incidentally, this is not the first time that a solitary gaur surprised foresters. Back in April 2023, another gaur, a large male was found deep inside the Amrabad tiger reserve, shocking officials.
A lot of investigations and backtracking its movements with the information gleaned had revealed that this animal likely strayed from its herd in Karnataka in an area close to Narayanpet in Telangana and eventually made its way into the tiger reserve in Nagarkurnool district.
The ‘Amrabad gaur’ later made its way into the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam tiger reserve in Andhra Pradesh, crossing the River Krishna, wandered around in that tiger reserve for nearly a year and has now made its way back into the Amrabad forests after recrossing the river to come back into Telangana.
“The first thoughts were if the one in Pallerla was the one from Amrabad trying to find its way back to where it came from in Karnataka. But that is yet to be determined as officials in the tiger reserve say they saw the gaur just two days ago,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forests R.M. Dobriyal told Deccan Chronicle. “It is hard to image that it could have made it’s way this far to Pallerla village in just two days,” he added
However, Dobriyal said, efforts were being made to ensure the identity of the Pallerla gaur. It is established that it is not the Amrabad gaur then a call will be taken on how to move forward, whether to keep tracking the animal, or capture and release it in a much safer forest environment.