At least 15 deer have succumbed to bacterial infection in the last month, triggering alarm among the authorities at the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) in India's Karnataka state.
While five deer succumbed to injuries due to infighting in August, five more were reported dead on September 19 and five more the next day.
A.V. Surya Sen, BBP executive director, told Indian media that on August 17, 37 deer were shifted to the park from St John’s Hospital by the Forest Department. Five more deer later followed suit.
According to Sen, the deer were living in unsanitary conditions and were severely weakened when they arrived at the BBP for rehabilitation.
Citing their postmortem report, Sen said that the death of 10 deer in two days was due to bacterial infections which caused gut-related issues.
He likewise suggested that many of these deer were injured during transportation to the park and infights.
To prevent further deaths, the authorities have put other deer under quarantine for a few days at herbivore safar enclosure inside the BBP.
At least seven leopard cubs likewise died at the same park from Feline panleukopenia, a highly contagious viral disease, from August 22 to September 5. However, experts suggested that the deaths of the leopard cubs and the deer were not related.