Armed with a borrowed dart-gun from Trivandrum zoo, the forest department's Rapid response team (RRT) began tracking the wild gaur that was spotted near Technocity on Thursday. The team had to get the Denmark imported dart-gun from the zoo as the forest department doesn't have a gun in three forest ranges in Thiruvananthapuram.
Although the team spotted the gaur twice on Wednesday, they couldn't take the shot since the gaur was found to be stressed and the team didn't want to alarm the animal. Often, under extreme stress, animals develop a fatal condition called capture myopathy which occurs due to over-exertion. The RRT avoided taking a shot at the animal to avert this condition. The team waited for a perfect shot to immobilize the animal, however it remained elusive for the rest of the day.
The dart-gun has a maximum range of 40 metres. Andoorkonam panchayat representatives said that the wild gaur was spotted on Wednesday midnight crossing Mohanapuram and entering nearby Pothencode panchayat. Forest officials said that they are tracking the footprints of gaur and are trying to immobilize the animal and shift the gaur soon. The wild gaur is believed to have strayed from the wild covering a long distance from Palode forest range to reach Andoorkonam.
