Dhaka, 20 December, 2020: On Tuesday morning, Chattogram Zoo welcomed a fifth member to its small, but tightly knit Sambar deer community, after a Sambar fawn was born.

"The female Sambar fawn weighed 3kg at birth," said Shahadat Hossain Shuvo, a veterinary surgeon and curator of the zoo. The zoo now hosts four female and a male Sambar, he said.

According to him, Chattogram Zoo is the only zoo in the country that has a Sambar population. The large deer found  in the Indian Subcontinent, Southern China, and Southeast Asia — including  Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines and Indonesia — the Sambar is listed as critically endangered species in Bangladesh, as per the International Union for  Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 

In Bangladesh, the Sambar used to be a common presence in the hilly regions  of Chattogram, Chattogram Hill  Tracts and Sylhet, said Dr Farid Ahsan, professor at the Zoology Department of Chittagong University.

However, as their population thinned due to severe hunting and loss of habitat, they are now only seen in Bandarban, that too very rarely. Additionally, the reproduction rate of the species is quite slow, especially when compared to other deer species including spotted and barking deer.

While the Sambar grows up to a large size, it usually gives birth only once a year. But the rate is worse for Chattogram Zoo, where the last fawn was born four years ago.

The  zoo now has a total of 31 deer of three different species. Other than the Sambar, it hosts 22 spotted deer, and four barking deer, said Dr Shuvo.

Contacted,  Dr Manzoorul Kibria, a professor at CU Zoology Department, said awareness should be developed to  conserve rare deer species, as well as nature in general. Strict steps should be taken to stop illegal hunting, he added.