According to the forest officials of the Wild Ass Sanctuary, there is a high possibility that villagers and farmers forced the herd of Wild Asses into the canal to get rid of them.
The tragedy of the deaths of 5 Wild Asses in Narmada canal near Dhrangadhra on Friday has taken a serious turn. According to the forest officials of the Wild Ass Sanctuary, there is a high possibility that villagers and farmers forced the herd of Wild Asses into the canal to get rid of them. The department has initiated inquiries into the matter.
"We have now focused our investigation on the farmers, who might have forced the herd into the canal, as the herd was destroying their crops" said NS Karamta, Range Forest Officer of the sanctuary.
According to Karamta, the forest department has received specific clues about the involvement, but concrete action will be taken after the investigation. "We will arrest those involved in this act. We have specific information, but the clear picture will emerge only after a few days" said Karamta.
On Friday morning, forest officials learned that 5 Wild Asses were drowned in a tunnel full of water in an under-construction Narmada canal passing from Hirapur village of Dhrangadhra taluka in Surendranagar. The dead Wild Asses include 2 calves, 2 females and 1 male. After recovering their bodies, forest officials called 3 doctors, who did on-the-spot post mortem to know the exact causes of their deaths. "We have also sent the samples to FSL to know more about their deaths" said Karamta.
On Friday morning, villagers learnt that a herd of 16 Wild Asses had gone inside the Narmada canal, but they got stuck in it, and couldn't climb up. Five of them were believed to have reached the tunnel in search of food and water, but they drowned in the water at the tunnel.
Another possibility is that the asses might have tried to cross the water on being frightened by the villagers.
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