Residents of a settlement in Powai were woken up in the middle of the night by a deer which came crashing down the roof of their house.
The deer is believed to have been chased by a leopard. The traumatised deer has been taken to Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP). Local youths said there was no sign of the leopard.
“The large herbivore ended up in a tough spot after a suspected chase from its predator, a leopard, in a slum adjacent to IIT Powai,” Pawan Sharma, founder of Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) and an honorary wildlife warden, said.
RAWW received a call from a resident living in the neighbourhood at 1.30 a.m. on Sunday. The deer was rescued from the house in between a mob of hundreds of slum dwellers by a seven-member team from the Mumbai Range of the Forest Department and RAWW.
It was immediately taken to SGNP’s rescue centre in RAWW's ambulance for a medical examination and rehabilitation. It will be soon released into the wild by the Forest Department.
Four occupants of the house who were sleeping barely a couple of feet away from where the deer crashed escaped without injury. There was also no damage to household articles like the fan, TV, gas, cupboards, and bed.
“Videos and photos of the deer showed that it appeared shocked and shaken but remained calm and motionless while watching the strange surroundings. It was later taken away without fuss,” range forest officer Santosh Kank said.