Swamp deer dies of cardiac arrest in Mumbai's Byculla zoo

MUMBAI: A female swamp deer aged four which was brought to Byculla's Veermata Jijabai Bhosale (VJB) Udyan and Zoo last year died after suffering a cardiac arrest on February 15.
The swamp deer pair was brought from Kanpur zoological park in exchange of a pair of military macaw bird species and also a pair of night heron about one month ago.
Zoo authorities said the pair was in the public viewing facility till Friday night and were even seen mating in the last week. However on Saturday morning when the keeper at the zoo went to the enclosure he found the female swamp deer dead on the floor.
An official from Byculla zoo said, “There were hit marks on the chest of the deer and we are suspecting that the male deer hit the female deer. A post mortem conducted by the Bombay Veterinary college found that the deer died owing to a cardiac arrest.”
The Byculla zoo authorities are worried about keeping the male swamp deer alone and therefore plan to revive their communication with Lucknow zoo for bringing in more pairs of swamp deers in exchange.
The swamp deer was brought under Phase II of the Byculla zoo revamp process in which enclosures for animals like tiger, leopard and also bird aviaries were built. The deer was the first animal to be housed in the zoo nearly three years after Humboldt penguins had been brought from South Korea.