Bison strays into residential area in Pune; dies after rescue

Deputy Conservator of Forests, Pune territory, Rahul Patil said the animal might have died due to respiratory insufficiency leading to cardiovascular failure and due to rise in the body temperature.However, the exact cause of the death is being ascertained, he said.

A gaur (Indian bison) strayed into a residential area in Maharashtra's Pune city on Wednesday morning, triggering panic among residents, and died after being captured by a forest team, officials said. Deputy Conservator of Forests, Pune territory, Rahul Patil said the animal might have died due to ''respiratory insufficiency leading to cardiovascular failure and due to rise in the body temperature''.

However, the exact cause of the death is being ascertained, he said. The gaur, also called as the Indian bison, has been listed as 'vulnerable' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List since 1986.

Around 7.30 am, some locals spotted the animal in Mahatma residential society in the plush Kothrud area here and alerted the forest department, he said. The animal was suspected to have ventured into the residential society from Mulshi forest area located nearby, Patil said.

A team of forest personnel was rushed to the spot and police personnel were also deployed in the area to control the crowd which came out to see the gaur. ''The forest team used tranquilisers and managed to rescue the bison around 1 pm,'' another forest official said, adding that the animal had some injuries on its mouth and it will be given medical aid before being released into a forest.

However, the bison later died, Patil said, adding that they are looking into the exact cause of the animal's death. ''The death is not because of injuries, but it could be because of high stress and an increase in body temperature of the animal,'' he said.

In a similar incident in May this year, a bison strayed into a locality in Karnataka's Mangaluru city. The animal was tranquilised and it later died. Patil said that prima facie, the cause of the death of the bison could be due to respiratory insufficiency leading to cardiovascular failure.

However, the exact final cause of the death will be ascertained once the post mortem report comes, he added. ''Bison is a shy animal, and as a large number of people came out to see, it got panicked and disturbed. This caused its body temperature to go up. As the animal was overstressed, exhausted and de-hydrated, this led to his death after the capture,'' Patil said.

Another Forest department officer, who was involved in the rescue operation, said three darts were fired at the animal, but two of them missed their target while one hit the bison. ''The animal got stressed after seeing people around it. As it was continuously on the run, the tranquiliser dose did not affect him much. The bison was captured when it took rest at one point. When we captured him, it was not unconscious. We made it unconscious by administering an injection after capture,'' he added.

The officer said the bison panicked due to the behaviour of the crowd. ''People were following him on motorcycles. They were taking pictures of him. As a result, the animal crossed almost three to four km distance and gotexhausted,'' he added.