Officials in the Department of Forests in Hassan received a peculiar request from a farmer’s family from Sakleshpur taluk on Friday. They wanted to take back home a sambar — which they had looked after like a “family member” for three years before handing it over to the department in 2013 — so that it gets sufficient food and water during the summer.
“The deer walked into our farm along with our cattle from a nearby forest in 2010. We don’t know how it got separated from its herd. We took care of it for three years and it became a member of our family,” said the farmer, Paramesh, from Atthihalli.
The family handed over the sambar, which they had named Raju, to the department in 2013 after learning that keeping a wild animal as a pet would amount to violation of law.
The sambar has been in the Gendekatte Forest Park, near Hassan, from the past four years. Mr. Paramesh, his wife, Kusuma, and children Prajwal and Rakshith visit the park often and feed fruits to it. “Even four years after it left our family, the animal remembers all of us. Whenever we go the park and call Raju, he comes running to us,” he said.
The family visited the park on Friday following media reports that animals in the park were facing a shortage of water and fodder. They were disappointed after seeing their beloved sambar and felt that they needed to take care of it again. “We will take care of the deer for a few months and return it to the department. We have sufficient water and fodder in our farm,” Mr. Paramesh said.
The department, however, has denied that there is any shortage of either water or fodder in the park. Deputy Conservator of Forests M.L. Manjunath told The Hindu that the the park had two functioning borewells. “We have grown fodder exclusively for our animals on two acres of land. The animals are getting sufficient fodder,” he said.
Regarding the request by the farmer’s family, the officer said it cannot be allowed as per the rules.
