TN fishermen rescue sambar deer struggling in sea

MADURAI: Fishermen Jerome of Inigo Nagar and his friends, who went to recover a crab net they had spread near Muyal Theevu (Hare Island) off Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu on Monday morning, found a sambar deer battling for its life in the sea. The animal had strayed at least half-a-km into the sea from the shore.
Inigo and his two friends found that they couldn't rescue the animal with a single boat. They returned to shore and called their friends. The trio and their friends went again to the sea on two fibre boats and brought the deer back to the shore. They alerted the forest department.
Forest personnel released the deer in the forest area at Salikulam.
According to forest officials, the deer could have come from the wilderness in Ottapidaram area and strayed into the sea near Tharuvaikulam. It weighed 200 kg and was four-foot- tall.
District forest officer Abhishek Tomar said the animal could have run into the sea fearing stray dogs and waited for the dogs to leave.