Zoo officials inspect the blackbuck enclosure at Sayajibaug zoo in Vadodara on Friday. (Express photo by Bhupendra Rana) Zoo officials inspect the blackbuck enclosure at Sayajibaug zoo in Vadodara on Friday. (Express photo by Bhupendra Rana)

A pack of stray dogs attacked blackbucks at Sayajibaug zoo in Vadodara on Friday morning, leaving six of them dead and two badly injured.

“As per the preliminary reports, the cause of death is shock leading to cardiac arrest and respiratory failure due to the attack by the dogs. The blackbucks are very sensitive and timid animals and they tend to suffer cardiac arrest in situations like such. Of the six animals which died, three had prominent dog bites,” said Dr C B Patel, a member of the panel that conducted autopsy.

Zoo officials said that a watchman, who reported for work at 7 am, heard dogs barking, and on reaching the enclosure of the blackbucks he found three dogs there. He alerted other watchmen who shooed the dogs away.

“We have set up an inquiry into the matter and are investigating as to how did the stray dogs sneak inside the enclosure. The blackbuck enclosure is double-fenced mesh that are more than 5 feet high. Of late, stray dogs have been a menace but we had not faced such a situation earlier. Once we conclude the inquiry, we will take adequate steps to control the dog menace and also ensure more security and safety of the animals,” said Pratyush Patankar, the curator of the zoo.

Vadodara Municipal Commissioner Ajay Bhadoo, who visited the zoo following the incident along with Mayor Jigisha Seth, said measures are being taken up to beef up the security by putting more security points and increasing the heights of the fencing.

“Apart from carrying out the root cause analysis, we are also conducting our own inquiry in terms of fixing of the responsibilities of the zoo staff, if any, and the security agency,” Bhadoo added.

According to officials, all the 11 blackbucks at the zoo were bred in-house and the zoo authorities were planning to bring in new blackbucks to introduce new bloodlines.

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