Close on the heels of the death of five spotted deer and seven wild goats at the Nagarahole National Park, six deer were found dead yesterday at Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Tiger (BRT) Reserve. Like in Nagarahole, here too, the deer died after they drank water that was mixed with pesticide.

The carcass of three stags and three spotted deer were found at a field near Hondarabalu village in Chamarajanagar taluk. The carcasses were found 200 metres from the reserve forest yesterday morning by the Forest Department while they were on patrol. They said that the deer had traces of blood on their nostrils as they would have puked after drinking water that was mixed with urea and other pesticides.

Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Tiger Reserve Director R. Ramesh Kumar, ACF Shivashankaraswamy and K. Gudi RFO Nagendra Naik visited the spot. They said that it was common for wild animals to stray into villages on the borders in search of food and water as most water sources have dried up.

The cause of death would be ascertained after getting the post-mortem report. “We suspect that either the animals would have drunk pesticide-laden water or they would have eaten crops that would have been sprayed with pesticides,” officials said.