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 An injured black buck being resuscitated with oxygen
Pic: Sayed Sameer AbediDoctors from the Bombay Veterinary College, Parel, who conducted a post mortem on the 11 deer found dead at the Veermata Jijabai Udyan (Byculla zoo) said that they had died of severe shock.
Viscera test results awaited
Said Vijay Kalam Patil, deputy municipal commissioner, We have asked that the viscera be sent to the Central Forensic Lab at Pune. Based on the test results, we will be in a better position to take further action.
Eleven deer were found dead in their enclosure at the zoo yesterday, and since then, the BMC has fielded a barrage of uncomfortable questions about the issue.
Even Municipal Commissioner Johny Joseph could not come up with satisfactory answers to the many issues raised by the animals death. Dogs caused panic
The BMC maintained that three dogs had somehow entered the deers enclosure and caused panic among the animals. It is likely that the dogs bit some of them and this made the deer run around in panic and they must have expired of shock.
Even the post mortem report shows that the cause of death was shock and internal haemorrhaging, says Dr M V Wani, deputy garden superintendent at the zoo. Till yesterday, the zoo had 75 black bucks and about 10 four-horned deer. 
Excavation work killed them: mayor
However, Mayor Datta Dalvi spoke to Mid Day and blamed the deaths on the excavation work happening right next to cage number 37, in which 25 deer were housed.
The JCB machine was on last night, and Im certain that the noise killed the deer, he said. We will ensure that the security officials who were supposed to be patrolling the premises are punished for neglecting their duty, he told Mid Day. He added that it was unfortunate that the dead animals were not discovered for several hours after their demise.
Bite marks on deer
However, zoo officials insisted that the deer died because of the dogs. We are trying to ascertain how the dogs got in and how they escaped again. Some of the dead animals have bite marks on their bodies, so this is a possibility we are investigating, said Dr Wani. | 
