The deer park at Walayar is in a spot of bother with the Central Zoo Authority of India (CZAI) serving notice on it for flouting guidelines for the scientific management of animals.
Park authorities have been asked to explain why its recognition could not be cancelled under Section 38 H of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The park is among the nine zoos that had been issued show cause notice, Union Minister for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar had recently said in the Lok Sabha.
There are 65 spotted and sambar deer at Jaiprakash Smrithivan at Walayar, which is management by the Forest Department.
The deer park, spread over 104 acres close to the check-post at Walayar, was established in 1997 in memory of socialist leader Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan.
Meanwhile, the Thrissur-based Heritage Animal Task Force (HATF) has approached the Ministry of Environment and Forests seeking immediate closure of the zoo citing limited facilities for the deer population.
“We have been demanding its closure for the past 15 years because of the poor facilities there,” said V.K. Venkatachalam, HATF secretary.
The park was started as a rescue and rehabilitation centre for wild animals when the CZAI objected to keeping deer at a cramped area of the Malampuzha zoo, a forest official said. “We had prepared a Rs.1.50-crore proposal for renovating the park four years ago, which was cleared by the CZAI. But the Central and State governments failed to earmark funds,” he said, blaming the government for the present situation.
Officials said translocation of the tamed deer was not practical as they would be easy prey to wild animals if released into forests. Shifting them to nearby zoos was not feasible as the zoos already had excess deer population. The department was planning sterilisation of the deer population when it received the notice. They said ensuring safety of the deer population was a risky affair as wild elephants often destroyed park fences and entered the park. Leopards also ventured into the park to prey on deer.
The park is manned by five personnel, including a section forest officer and a beat forest officer. Others are daily wage labourers.
Earlier, the park used to have over 5,000 visitors annually. Now visitors are barred from entering the facility.
