Morning guest: Sambar strays into Shimla school, rescued by wildlife wing
SHIMLA : A sambar (deer) chased by a pack of dogs disrupted a regular Thursday morning routine as it strayed into the Senior Secondary School at Boileauganj, sending students and teachers running helter-skelter in terror. The animal was later rescued by forest officials.
“I was in office when I heard a commotion. It was scary when we reached the staff room and saw the sambar trying to make its way through the school and overturning chairs,” said Usha Sharma, a teacher.
The gates of the school which has 343 students were open and the children had just started coming in when the sambar arrived, Sharma added.
Panicking further on hearing everyone around it scream the animal then entered the school toilet where it was locked in by the school staff, who also called wildlife rescuers.
It took much hard work for the 12-member team of rescuers to finally trap the 150-kg deer, which struggled to find a foothold on the ceramic tiles. It was then tranquillised before being sent to the animal rescue centre at the Himalayan Nature Park in Kufri. “The animal was traumatised, it has bruises and a deep cut on its neck, it will be released in the wild only after treatment, said Pooja Kanwar, a wildlife veterinarian.“We have taken it to the rescue centre,” she added. Locals said the deer had strayed into the city from the Glen forest near the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies.
“It’s for the fourth time that a sambar has been rescued by our team this year near Shimla,” said Anil Kumar, wildlife ranger.