Daijiworld Media Network -Mangaluru (ANK)
Mangaluru, May 6: Social activist Gerard Towers on Wednesday, May 6, filed a case against the Forest department and its officers at Barke police station alleging negligence that led to the death of a male gaur which wandered into Mangaluru city on Tuesday.
It may be recalled, on Tuesday morning, a male gaur was found near Kudroli area causing panic among the residents. A rescue operation was later conducted by the forest officials where they fired darts to tranquilise the animal.
During its rehabilitation at Charmadi forest, it is said that gaur collapsed and died. Reacting to the incident, social worker Gerard Towers accused the forest officers of negligence and for the fate of the deceased animal. He has also filed a complaint against the responsible officials at Barke police station.
Gerard claimed that the forest officials handled the situation in a completely unscientific manner which caused fatal injuries on the animal's body. He also pointed out that this was not an isolated incident and that the forest officers were known to handle animals recklessly.
Speaking to Daijiworld, social activist Gerard Towers said, "To this day, the forest officials have displayed a 50 per cent rate of failure when it comes to taming of wild animals let loose in the city. When an animal enters the city, before alerting the concerned authorities, people begin pelting stones at it and end up injuring 25 per cent of the animal. Then the concerned authorities (forest officials) result in hurting over 50 per cent of the animal due to which it dies. The forest officers are trained to handle these situations. However, they have constantly failed at the same. Regarding the incident that took place on Tuesday, the gaur suffered the blow of darts twice. The manner in which it was tied at the legs and loaded on to the vehicle was disturbing. It was an unscientific way of handling the animal and the injuries seen on its body said it all. In the complaint filed, I have requested for the post-mortem report of the deceased animal and urged for the investigation on the case to be presented before media and public.
"The gaur has died due to the negligence of the forest officers and I am intently waiting for the investigation report. I am fighting for the sake of the people and I believe in raising my voice when I sense there is injustice prevailing," he said.