Although local villagers claimed that they informed the forest department after rescuing the injured animal, forest officials did not reach the spot on time, resulting in the death of the two-year-old male spotted deer due to lack of timely treatment.
"We rushed out of our houses after hearing barking of stray dogs around 5 am on Thursday and saw four to five stray dogs chasing a deer. We managed to rescue the deer from the clutches of the dogs. But by then, the deer had suffered grievous injuries all over its body," said Bikash Dehury, a villager.
Confirming the incident, Bayree Ranger Sarat Kumar Sahoo said on Wednesday night a herd of deer had strayed into the village from the nearby forest in search of water.
While the herd was returning to their habitation, the two year-old male deer might have been trapped by the stray dogs and killed.
Forest officials reached the village, took the carcass in possession and sent the carcass for postmortem to the veterinary hospital at Chhatia. The animal was buried after post-mortem, official sources said.