Imphal, April 25 : A team of forest officials and local volunteers searching for dead animals inside Keibul Lamjao National Park in the wake of the recent flushout by the army, today spotted carcasses of a hog deer and a snake bird.
The team also stumbled upon a partially-burnt horn of brow antlered deer (Cervuseldi eldi), locally known as Sangai.
The carcasses have kept villagers and wildlife conservationists guessing if any inmate of the park was killed during bombings and exchange of fire during the flushout.
The army, police and the Assam Rifles jointly launched an operation codenamed Summer Storm inside the 45 square km-national park from the night of April 11 to April 21 to flush out militants camping inside the sanctuary.
The forces busted five rebel camps, killed 12 militants and seized 10 weapons, including six AK-series rifles during the operation.
Forest officials could not immediately say how the animal and the bird died. Neither could they confirm whether the horn fell off naturally or was sawn off.
They said the carcass of the hog deer was found inside a trap laid by poachers.
“We cannot say how the bird died and the Sangai horn was left. We will bring the carcasses here for post-mortem to ascertain the causes of deaths. But the skeletal remains are in highly decomposed state,” a senior official at the head office of the forest department here said.
The park is a floating park on Loktak lake in Bishnupur district of Manipur and is the last remaining natural habitat of Sangai, categorised as the most threatened deer species found only in Manipur.
The last census in 2003 in the park put the Sangai population at 180. Other animals like hog deer and wild boar are also found aplenty.
The Manipur forest department is seeking World Heritage Site status for the park. The demand is being examined by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
A scientist from the WII and a senior official of the forest ministry are scheduled to visit the park for inspection next month.
To ascertain if any animal died during the operation, a team of forest officials led by W. Nabachandra Singh, the beat officer posted at the park, conducted a search with help from local volunteers immediately after the troops pulled out of the park.
On April 21, immediately after the troops withdrawal, villagers recovered a carcass believed to be that of a hog deer from the park.
The principal chief conservator of forest, S. Singshit, said the survey inside the park would continue.
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