A one-and-half-year-old male sambar deer (Philippine deer), which survived the attack by some local people, died on Wednesday evening while undergoing treatment at the veterinary hospital at Mylavaram in Krishna district.
According to a team of forest task force, the deer was attacked with axes after it ventured out of the forest in search of water on Tuesday morning near Atlapragada village in A. Konduru mandal.
“We found the deer in a pool of blood. It had injuries on both legs,” said Mylavaram Forest Ranger Firoz, who led the task force team.
The deer was taken to the veterinary hospital where a team of veterinarians attended on it. “We made all arrangements to shift it to the Animal Rescue Centre, Tirupati, for better treatment, but it died,” District Forest Officer (territorial) J. Benerjee told The Hindu .
A case was registered and two special teams were deployed to nab the hunters, said Mr. Benerjee.
This was the third deer of the Kondapalli Reserve Forest in that district that had fallen prey to hunters.
The forest authorities were helpless in preventing the attacks owing to lack of staff to keep vigil on the hunting of the deer.